Every Korean child adopted through Holt International who is escorted to the US arrives with a Holt “blue bag.” These diaper bags hold clues to the babies’ lives before us, such as a hanbok and pictures from the foster family, as well as practical items like formula, bottles, wipes, and baby ibuprofen with Korean packaging.

Minor’s bag contained about 15 “Cutie” brand diapers from Korea. Just last night, I got around to transferring these diapers from where they landed three weeks ago when I unpacked the bag to his changing table. They look similar to any other diapers, with cute (as advertised!) little baby motifs printed on them:

(Uh, yeah. That’s a cell phone.)

Look closely, though, and you’ll see a yellow stripe up the center. The meaning revealed itself this morning, when I changed Minor: it turns blue when the diaper is wet. A fuel gauge, of sorts. Well, this explains it better than I could.

Google tells me that wetness indicators are already a standard feature on adult diapers, but they seem to be available only on infants’ diapers made in China and Japan. Given all the options for US disposable diapers — cruisers, overnights, swimmies, gender-specific, and the like — I’m surprised the idea hasn’t jumped the pond.

When you think about how you use diapers, though, it hardly seems like a crucial feature. You change a baby on a rough schedule, particularly just before any event you don’t want to be interrupted by a leaky diaper — naps, bedtime, car rides. If you’ve gone to the trouble to undress the baby, you’re probably going to change him even if his load capacity indicator is near “E.”

What would be really cool is a sensor wired to a button or pacifier or some other external object that would alert you instantly to any imminent breaches of diaper integrity. How about it, Cutie?