Fun Things to Do with Your Family this Weekend #3 July 17, 2008

Have you made any plans for the weekend? I have a few ideas for you and your kids!

Create a Family Phrase Book.

Rather than downloading and printing pics for the photo album, why not start a compendium of all the cute, zany, hilariously unintelligible and downright heart-melting things your kids say? (This idea comes from my inability to assemble a scrapbook, overridden by my desire to remember all the precious moments. My husband keeps our photos organized on the computer, not to worry!) Here are a few gems from my three-year-old, Joseph:

• “Hey, do you want to go to Christmas? Get your raincoat!”  Now that Joseph is three, his imagination has run wild. His “raincoat” was a scarf he’d pulled from the front hall closet. Hey, I’d love to go to Christmas.
• “I can feel my poops in my nose.”  Joseph rather poetically said this when he caught the aroma of, well, his toots. It took us a moment to decipher it, and then we all cracked up.
• “I can’t want it!”  This was his rendition of “no thank you” for a while. Can a person not be able to want something? We finally convinced him to decline in a more dignified manner, but to this day, my husband and I replace “no” with this puzzling phrase.
• “I make you beautiful, mommy.”  This was Joseph’s reassurance to me one day when I was disappointed about something. I don’t remember what the let-down was, but I am certain that whatever beauty I have, my family is responsible for it.

I present you with the best chicken recipe your family has ever had! 

Crusty Herbed Chicken
While this gluten-free recipe calls for baking skinless chicken thighs, the result is similar to a breaded and spiced, fried chicken dish–without the fat and flour! The idea for this flavorful recipe came when I was first exploring food-pairing and the low-glycemic diet. This easy, summer dish makes an impressive large-batch dish for family reunions and picnics.

Future Environmentalists Club

Helen Coronato, author of Eco-Friendly Families, reports, “by raising our children with a strong sense of respect and reverence for Earth, we help ensure that there will be adults to step into ecological leadership positions.” The following are excerpts from her wonderful new book:
Opt for natural sunscreens that contain ingredients like shea butter, jojoba oil, zincs and green tea. A study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has shown that increasing your vitamin A an additional 25 mg and vitamin E an additional 335 mg can help diminish your body’s sensitivity to UV light.

Have your kids outgrown their shoes? Before you shop for back-to-school, think globally: recycle your children’s shoes through these great resources:

• www.Soles4Souls.com accepts gently worn shoes and delivers them to people in need, like Hurricane Katrina victims.
• Ashes to ashes and Crocs to dust. When your kid’s Crocs get too tight, mail them to 1510 Nelson Road, Longmont, CO 80501, and they’ll be shredded to make children’s playground. Clearly mark the outside of your package, “Recycle.”
• Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe Program accepts all brands of athletic shoes and grinds them up for new sports surfaces, like basketball courts. Check out www.letmeplay.com/reuseashoe for a drop-off location near you.

Submit your family’s fun weekend activities—The best ones will be featured here!
Looking for more weekend ideas? Fun Things To Do archived entries:
Fun Things to Do With Your Family This Weekend #2
Fun Things To Do With Your Family This Weekend #1

The Doctors are Coming! July 16, 2008

I am very pleased to announce that I’ve just agreed to appear on an upcoming episode of THE DOCTORS, a new show from CBS!

I will be discussing early potty training and demonstrating communication through sign language with my 14-month-old son, Noah. I will also share my experiences of potty-training my three-year-old, Joseph, using the conventional “pull-ups” method. 

You can read about our journey using the  Baby Signs Potty Training Kit in these blog entries: 
1. Potty-Training at 13 Months
2. Potty-Training = Green Baby
3. Early Potty-Training Success
4. June is Potty-Training Awareness Month!
5. Infant Potty-Training–Er, Mommy-Training
6. Potty-Baby: Almost Trained at 14 Months

Want to know more about this new television show? They say it best:

From the creative team behind the long-running hit series “Dr. Phil” comes THE DOCTORS, a new, one-hour syndicated daytime talk show. For the first time on daytime television, viewers will have a source of reliable and fascinating medical and health advice, dispensed daily by a distinguished panel of five “on-call” professionals. THE DOCTORS will premiere nationwide in September 2008 (Check local listings for station and time). 

Story-driven, dynamic and interactive, THE DOCTORS does for health care what DR. PHIL has done for down-to-earth discussions of emotional and psychological issues. The series’ experts will focus on the compelling, real-life experiences of the show’s guests and then weigh in, disseminating valuable information about health, medical care and drugs in a compelling, informal, easy-to-understand and entertaining format. 

The team of doctors are five top practicing professionals, each with a different specialty — ER physician (and former ABC “Bachelor” in Paris) Dr. Travis Stork; psychologist Dr. Tara Fields, Ph.D., M.F.P.; obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Lisa Masterson; plastic surgeon and reconstructive surgery expert Dr. Andrew Ordon; and pediatrician Dr. James Sears. 

Viewers are also encouraged to “Ask the Doctors” by submitting their questions and experiences to the show’s website about the health care issues that matter the most to them. Answers may be delivered on-air, or become the basis for a larger, produced segment. With its fluid format, THE DOCTORS covers a broad range of subjects, especially news-breaking, topical issues. The show features on-set medical procedures, either directly in front of the studio audience or in its backstage examining room, and off-site “house calls.”  This medical dream team will be the “must-go-to” source for information on the latest medical breakthroughs and cutting-edge practices and procedures, providing a valuable resource for viewers who might not have access to the most updated medical advances.

Five medical practitioners, with five different specialties, five days a week, discuss what people need to know to live their best lives. If it matters to you, it matters to THE DOCTORS.

THE DOCTORS, taped in front of a live audience in Hollywood, is produced by Stage 29 Productions and distributed by CBS Television Distribution. Jay McGraw, Carla Pennington and Dr. Phil McGraw are executive producers.  CBS Television Distribution is a unit of CBS Corp.

If you are willing to teach your little one to become diaper-free (and help the environment by decreasing the impact of disposable diapers on landfills!) please purchase your Baby Signs Potty Training Kit through my Amazon store. The wee kickback I get pays for the environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies I use for cleaning up Noah’s “accidents” along the way. Thank you!
If you have attempted (or succeeded!) at early potty-training, I would love to hear from you!

Potty Baby — Almost Trained at 14 Months July 5, 2008

Sixty percent of the time, my baby uses the potty every time.
(–with a nod to Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy, for all you now questioning my logic.)

Frankly, it’s as true as it can be. Everywhere I go, women smile admirably at me, gasping in wonder at my infant in big-boy undies (He has ones with the Superman “S” emblazoned on his booty), and while Noah does use the potty about 60% of the time, these admiring gaspers already consider him ”potty-trained.” Why? He is not entirely out of dipes, but he is able to go out of the house in honest-to-goodness underwear—and that’s a whole lot more than most mothers training 2- and 3-year-old preschoolers can say. Trust me, I’ve been there. Earlier this year, in fact.

We just completed our 2-week bare-bottom adventure. Noah absolutely loves the freedom; putting him in a diaper for bedtime is now met with much protest. (When he is able to stay dry through the night, I will gladly give our diapers away.) Because I must always be on the lookout for Noah’s signals, and women are always approaching me about my baby’s lack of diaper-age, the topic of early training is always on the tip of my tongue. This formerly quiet writer who generally keeps to herself has become quite the passionate advocate: My mommy’s group has asked me to speak on the topic; I was recently toasted for my efforts at a baby shower; and I can’t count how many times in the last 14 days I’ve commented, ”it’s a HUNDRED times easier to do it with a baby,” combined with, “do you realize the average baby uses 5000 diapers? Consider the impact on the environment!” (My husband Joseph, burdened with the unpleasant task of changing the diaper pail, would also like me to add how relieved he is.) I’m fanatical, and if you’re a SAHM with little one still in diapers and zero time to chat with adults, early training may be all the conversation-starter you’ll need at the checkout.

The Baby Signs Potty Training kit is only 40 bucks–less than the price of a case of diapers. Actually, I think Amazon has it on sale right now… yes! $26.37! Consider how much you spend on diapers and wipes, then calculate that by 5,000 (that’s if your baby uses 5 diapers a day and is trained by 2.75 years.) Let’s see, Amazon has cases of 140 Pampers Cruisers Size 4 for 39.99. You would spend $1,400.00 by the time your baby was trained. Wouldn’t you rather take 2 weeks and $26.37, and open the lines of communication through sign language with your little cherub, put the extra cash in savings, help the environment, and facilitate your child’s confidence and independence by using the toilet? And I won’t even ask what could be cuter than seeing your own child’s bare butt wriggling about every day for 2 weeks?

Here is our Progress Report: The first few days were not unlike the first 3 months of new motherhood–getting out of the house was a logistical feat involving the potty, multiple outfits, a cover for the car seat, diapers in case I chickened out, wipes, and toys to keep him interested during potty breaks. We soon figured out what we needed and what we didn’t. I got into the practice of putting Noah on the potty in the back of my SUV when we arrived and departed from our destination, and he got the message quickly to wait or do the potty sign on the road.

This is a really important point because, as my husband points out, the “potty-training relationship” we’ve built with our son is not the traditional concept of self-control (at this point) so much as taking turns telling each other when potty time has arrived. For instance, Noah knows he will use his potty when he gets up in the morning and grunts his word for it and does the sign until I place him on it. After breakfast, he will point at it from his highchair, or I will simply place him on it, knowing what will come next. Our day goes along as such, with Noah holding for potty visits he knows are imminent from experience, or with me putting him on and entertaining him until he goes. We are so very pleased with his success, and of course as parents we make note of our son’s uncommonly superior intellect.

This experience has created a bond of trust, love and communication I never thought possible. Teaching only a few sign language words has also opened the door to my son’s vocabulary; he is an enthusiastic repeater of words and phrases, and we are just as enthusiastically encouraging him. Can I draw a connection between my son’s toilet habits and his ability to say letters and make their sounds at 14 months? I am willing to say that when you become as engaged to your child as early training requires, your baby will certainly surprise you.

If you are willing to teach your little one to become diaper-free (and help the environment by decreasing the impact of disposable diapers on landfills!) please purchase your Baby Signs Potty Training Kit through my Amazon store. The wee kickback I get pays for the environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies I use for cleaning up Noah’s “accidents” along the way. Thank you!
If you have attempted (or succeeded!) at early potty-training, I would love to hear from you!

Does Having Kids Make You Happy? July 1, 2008

Unless you are surrounded by surly, brooding teenagers, or are in the throes of an unfortunate bout with postpartum depression (both temporary events), it would seem that the resounding answer would be, “yes!”

NewsWeek posted this story today by Lorraine Ali about whether or not parents are happier than childless couples. Ali reports that, according to Daniel Gilbert’s 2006 book “Stumbling on Happiness,” the Harvard professor of psychology concludes that marital satisfaction decreases dramatically after the birth of the first child—and increases only when the last child has left home. How many families do you know with more than one child? If Dr. Gilbert’s study was sufficiently broad and without bias, how do his findings explain the overwhelmingly popular desire to add additional members to the family?

By contrast, in NewsWeeks’s own recent poll, 50 percent of Americans said that adding new children to the family tends to increase happiness levels. Only one in six (16 percent) said that adding new children had a negative effect on the parents’ happiness.

Later in the article, Ali quotes Florida State University’s Robin Simon, a sociology professor: ”Parents experience lower levels of emotional well-being, less frequent positive emotions and more frequent negative emotions than their childless peers.” Again, I have to wonder exactly how this deduction was made. Certainly, unlike my carefree single years, today my concerns are more for my family’s well-being than my own. And, I do react more strongly to injustices, particularly news items involving children harmed or mistreated in any fashion. I do worry more for the future of this world, and the safety of my children. I don’t categorize this as negativity or a lower level of emotional well-being, but more of a by-product of true love. Who aches more than he or she who loves?

I’m pleased to note that Ali included a key study by University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Sara McLanahan and Julia Adams. While the study was conducted some 20 years ago, the researchers reported that parenthood was perceived as significantly more stressful in the 1970s than in the 1950s, attributing part of that change to major shifts in employment patterns. The majority of American parents now work outside the home, have less support from extended family and face a deteriorating education and health-care system.

Never was this pattern more abundantly clear to me than when I was pregnant and then delivered my first son. I hadn’t lived in my hometown for 15 years, and suddenly I wanted, nay, needed my own mommy to help me. Dear girlfriends I’d kept in touch with over the years, regardless of where our jobs or passions had moved us, suddenly seemed a universe away. It occurred to me that this was really the first time in the history of the world that, when a woman gives birth, her mother, grandmother, sisters, aunts, and female cousins may not be geographically available to help with the new baby and facilitate mommy during her recovery from birth. I considered the possibility of parishioners–ladies from the women’s Bible study at church–but at the time I was relatively new in town and had not yet formed ties. I pondered the luxury of a Biblical-times hut of female relatives busily fussing about, making food and keeping house after I’d delivered my son, Joseph the Fourth, as it happens. (Don’t cry for me; my husband’s sisters drove and flew in from far and wide and were gracious, giving, helpful and compassionate. My mother and father arrived from Canada 3 weeks after the birth–I was in good hands.)

What I did find surprising is when Ali suggests that a rosy-hued vision of our single lives might be causing parents’ blues. “Twenty-five years ago, women married around the age of 20, and men at 23. Today both sexes are marrying four to five years later. This means the experience of raising kids is now competing with highs in a parent’s past, like career wins (’I got a raise!’) or a carefree social life (’God, this is a great martini!’),” she reports. I’ll admit that my life before marriage and babies was, ahem, audacious, and I enjoyed my share of martinis, but never once (NEVER ONCE!) would it occur to me to prefer one over my beautiful boys, regardless of how many times I’ve had–and will have to–wipe their butts, clean up their vomit, or lose a night’s sleep.

As Ali notes, there are other rewarding aspects of parenting that are impossible to quantify. If anything, since little Joseph’s birth I’ve struggled with clinging to the here and now, knowing all too well how fast a baby grows. Each stage of babyhood has its remarkable miracles and blessings; each cuddle is heart-breakingly sweet. Before I know it, my little ones will be in school, and one day they’ll be too old to hold hands with me in the dark, tucked into bed and waiting for sleep. I actually cherish the songs we sing (Old McDonald, The Wheels on the Bus, Eensy Weensy Spider, et al.), and already regret the day when a.) they’re too cool to sing them anymore, and b.) I’m not cool enough to sing the music they do like.

I believe I am in love with parenting because I lived more life before having kids than was necessary or even appropriate. I was ready when I met my husband, when we conceived; I had traveled, I had dated, I’d even been miserably married and divorced–I had lived a Godless life only to return open-armed to Him. For me, my husband and children are my life’s great joy, and my gratitude is enormous.

Does having kids make you happy? Why or why not? I’d like to hear from you!

Infant Potty Training—Er, Mommy Training June 25, 2008

Today was the toughest day yet in our effort to become a diaper-free household. It has been exactly 20 days since we started, and if you’ve been reading along, you know how thrilled I’ve been with our success with the Baby Signs Potty Training Kit. Noah has taken quite easily to the potty and while I was nervous about embarking on a two-week “bare-bottom” period last Thursday, we said a prayer and leaped. And boy, have we learned, oh how we’ve learned.

It is important that I reiterate that this adventure is coinciding with weaning. I cannot imagine a more powerful and dramatic substitute for the inherent bonding breastfeeding allows. And for all you mommies who weren’t able or chose not to breastfeed for whatever reason, I absolutely must impress upon you that if you’d like a taste of the fairytale bonding of which nursing mothers always sing the praises, by all means try early potty training. It is bonding to the nth degree, my lovelies. And the end result may be comparable in the long run, especially at school; I argue that babies who are extremely well-tended-to are more confident and comfortable with themselves and their immediate world, and therefore more willing and eager to be open to new challenges, socializing and learning experiences.

Perhaps that’s why I’m so exhausted today (the “extremely well-tended-to” part), or it could be the hormonal roller-coaster I’ve been on since I stopped breastfeeding. I’m also wrestling with some recent comments from my neighbor and the pediatrician I mentioned in June is Potty-Training Awareness Month.  My neighbor is a good and trusted friend who has two kids roughly the same ages as Noah and Joseph. She is eager and excited to hear all the details about how to potty train her 9-month-old infant, but she wants to wait to see if “it’s really worth all the trouble.” An environmentalist, she does use cloth diapers, and is happy to do so until her little guy gets old enough to pull down his own pants to use the potty. So I keep asking myself: is it worth it? (and my answer remains the same. Yes! It took 15 months to complete potty-training with my toddler Joseph and never once was it easy. Training Noah, for the most part, is as simple as putting him on the potty when it’s time to go.) The pediatrician, on the other hand, insists on calling early training an “alternative to diapering.” What she means, in general, is that an infant is too young to understand the concept of potty training and so it is actually the caretaker who is trained, watching the baby’s cues and offering the potty at the appropriate time. However, there is a hole in her theory; Noah is holding his number two’s until he can get to the potty! Maybe it’s time for a Potty-Training Report Card:

• The obvious worry about going bare-bottom is cleaning up accidents. What I was amazed to find is that Noah is already aware when his diaper is off and will stay dry for an hour or longer. I make sure to place him on the potty about 2 or 3 times an hour, and he will sit there as long as we are engaged in something fun: a song with hand gestures, reading a book, practicing our American sign language, playing with stacking cups, etc., usually 3-5 minutes is all that’s necessary.
• As I mentioned, Noah is holding his poops until he gets to the potty. This is the heart-breaking part for me—there have been two times (and two is plenty, I can assure you) when I misread his cries for something else (e.g.: he was tired or hungry) when really he was desperate to get to the potty. When I finally figured it out and placed him on it, he did his business successfully, but I felt horrible for not understanding. Looking back, he had been frantically gesturing a crude interpretation of the ASL sign for potty and I didn’t recognize it. The child is working so hard to communicate with me, he is trying to put his two’s in the right place, and I’m this blind dolt. The worst-case scenario is that he becomes afraid of not having his potty needs met and becomes a chronic “holder.” Bad mommy!
• To repeat myself, yes, he is now doing more signs. He really likes “more”, especially as it applies to milk. He also does the “milk” sign, and–ta da!–the “potty” sign! He is saying the word potty, too. Oh, and “choo choo!” like in the kit’s DVD. However, he also has a special cry for having to use the potty, thanks to those two occasions listed above. But I know it now and I promise to do better!
• I must never leave the house without the potty. He is not interested in using a big toilet. If I have the potty with me, he will stay dry through the car/stroller ride; I take him to the bathroom as soon as we arrive at our destination.
• He has not yet stayed dry during naps or overnight, and the resulting laundry is nothing short of depressing. It doesn’t help that he likes to have a bottle just before bed, either. At this point, we are keeping him in a diaper for sleep. I don’t want to confuse him, but I also want him/us to get some sleep!

I have to say again that the closeness between my son and I as a result of this program is awe-inspiring. To be successful, I really must be at his side at all times. I watch his cues, listening to his sounds, interpreting his hand gestures, keeping tabs on what and when he eats and drinks—we are connected at every level. He depends on me in a way he never has; as a newborn, he nursed for all his sustenance and we were inseparable. This is so much more intense bonding because our trust is already established and now he communicates with me, he seeks my help to accomplish a shared goal. We are partners, yet I am his guide. During our many, many potty visits throughout the day (he uses the potty about 4-10x daily), those visits are periods of complete and uninterrupted interaction. He has more quality time with me than I even thought humanly possible.

So, as I began, today was our hardest day yet. For whatever reason, little Noah wet himself (and the floor) all day long. Typically, we might (might!) have one accident a day. What happened? It could have been the pesky hormones, but in the middle of the afternoon, I actually cried because I just wanted to put him in a diaper for the rest of the day and start again tomorrow. He was miserable being wet, I was miserable cleaning it up. He still did all his number two’s in the potty, however. We’d been making such wonderful progress, getting better and better every day, I really hadn’t seen this coming. I wonder if it was just a random blip? Tomorrow, we will start fresh.

If you are willing to teach your little one to become diaper-free (and help the environment by decreasing the impact of disposable diapers on landfills!) please purchase your Baby Signs Potty Training Kit through my Amazon store. The wee kickback I get pays for the environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies I use for cleaning up Noah’s “accidents” along the way. Thank you!
If you have attempted (or succeeded!) at early potty-training, I would love to hear from you!

Curious about how we’re doing? Read about it in the next installment: Potty Baby–Almost Trained at 14 Months

Early Potty-Training Success! June 10, 2008

We are on Day 6 of using the Baby Signs Potty Training Kit, and my 13-month-old son has used his potty faithfully at least once every single day from the day we received it. Today, in fact, he used it four times! Over the weekend, he even did his twosies on the full-size toilet, supported by my husband. I am not just typing this post, I am gushing it. Honestly, I can’t stop talking about it. (You can read my first impressions in these posts: Potty-Training at 13 Months, Early Potty-Training = Green Baby.)

The reason I’m so thrilled is because we just finished training my older son, and this new experience is roughly, oh, 100x easier. Beginning a few months shy of his second birthday, Joseph was trained in the “generally-accepted” method (pull-ups until the child shows signs of being “ready”, then stickers and rewards). He only used his potty sporadically for nine whole months, and wasn’t out of pull-ups until a few months past his THIRD birthday. Consider the expense and landfill impact of that potty-training experience–let alone the frustration for all parties involved. We consistently smiled and cheered him on, however, and I believe I am a better mommy for this extended lesson in patience. 

There are several reasons why the Baby Signs program is working so well for us:

• While we have always showered Noah with love and attention, our baby is glowing from all the additional interaction and praise
• Learning when to offer the potty was similar to learning when my baby is hungry, or how  he likes to be put to sleep
• I’m weaning him right now, and potty-training seems to be replacing nursing as a bonding activity between us. We are very interconnected: watching each other’s signals and making plenty of eye-contact and cuddling. Potty-training is most assuredly a trust-building activity.
• He isn’t frustrated by unmanageable emotions, like a two-year-old who typically reacts with tantrums 
• He loves to mimic whatever we say and do
• When I say, “where is the pee-pee?” and look into the potty, Noah smiles at me and climbs on the potty, finishes, and then looks back in and then at me, as if to say, “there it is!”
• There is no need for stickers or other rewards. Hugs, cheers and dancing about together are prize enough for him.
• While he hasn’t yet made the recommended sign language gestures, he does try to speak the related words (”potty” (Noah says “paw-ee”), “all done”, etc.)

The consistent success of this adventure has motivated me to try to complete the process as quickly—yet painlessly—as possible. I cannot wait to have my little guy in big-kid undies–he’ll be the toast of the playground! (Sippycup toast, that is.) In order to do this, I have a few questions:

• Currently, I’m offering the potty at times when I know or can guess when he’ll need it (after meals, etc.) Should I transition to offering it at regular intervals, gently teaching him when he can expect it? My goal is that he will hold it until the time he knows he can relieve himself. He is entering an age where he is learning to anticipate routines; it seems like that would be the appropriate thing to do.
• I’ve still got him in disposable diapers, and my landfill guilt is mounting. Would it speed the process if I put him in cloth diapers, so he can feel when he is wet and be impelled to use the potty to ease his discomfort?Want to see answers to these questions and read more about our early-training adventure? Read the next installment at June is Potty-Training Awareness Month!

If you are willing to teach your little one to become diaper-free (and help the environment by decreasing the impact of disposable diapers on landfills!) please purchase your Baby Signs Potty Training Kit through my Amazon store. The wee kickback I get pays for the environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies I use for cleaning up Noah’s “accidents” along the way. Thank you!
If you have attempted (or succeeded!) at early potty-training, I would love to hear from you!

Early Potty Training = Green Baby June 6, 2008

The funny thing about potty-training: either a lot happens very quickly, or nothing happens for days… weeks… or months, sadly.

We are only on Day 3 of our adventure with the Baby Signs Potty Training Kit, (read about our triumphs and struggles of day 1 and 2 here!) and I’ll admit it’s been an eye-opening experience.

Yes, Noah used the potty again today, and while good parents don’t compare their children, our success rate this time around is, ahem, noticeable. I’ll give the credit to Baby Signs for even convincing me to start at 13 months, and also to Big Brother Joseph’s help. Not only has Joseph asserted himself as household spokesmodel for potty-training, he is poised and ready to demonstrate the American sign language taught on the kit’s DVD. While only yesterday he was determined not to share his old potty with Noah, today he insists Noah use it.

As you can see, toilet activities are on everyone’s mind at our house. In my previous blog entry, I nicknamed this program, “antique potty-training” because never in history have mothers trained their children so late. With many countries beginning the first month, and several others completing the process by 18 months, it would seem the biggest obstacle barring cherub’s little tushie from big-kid underwear was the advent of disposable diapers. This, in turn, causes me to ponder whether the whole process might go faster if Baby Noah were wearing old-fashioned cloth diapers: the discomfort of wetting himself would encourage his use of the potty, and the poopy laundry would keep me consistent with my support of him.  

I can confidently say we are greener than most households, yet I’m embarrassed to admit we’ve always used disposables. This potty program has made it glaringly clear to me that the sooner Noah is out of diapers, the less impact we’ll make on landfills. According to John A. Shiffert, executive director of the National Association of Diaper Services, the average baby goes through 5,000 diapers before being potty-trained. The EPA reported nearly 3.4 million tons of diaper waste, or 2.1 percent of U.S. garbage, in landfills in 1998. Diapers in landfills in underdeveloped countries are especially problematic because they often aren’t properly disposed, and excrement leaks into the local water supply. 

However, no one can say definitively whether cloth diapers are better for the environment. A new study released in England by London-based Environmental Agency concluded that disposable diapers have the same environmental impact as reusable diapers when the effect of laundering cloth diapers is taken into account. (Not to mention washing extra outfits, and laundering bedding more frequently.) 

Before I calculate wasted water, environmentally-friendly detergent, and electricity from using cloth diapers, I still have to wonder if it might be the right path. My son uses approximately 5 diapers a day currently. That’s 35 a week, or 1820 yearly. If he finishes training by 2.75 years old, he will have used 5,000 diapers. Gasp!

If I can complete his training by 18 months, as Baby Signs contends is possible, we would only use 700. (That still seems outrageous.) Perhaps it would be worth it? Is our biggest obstacle to getting him out of diapers merely the comfort of a stay-dry lining?

Read more about our adventure: Early Potty-Training Success!
If you are willing to teach your little one to become diaper-free (and help the environment by decreasing the impact of disposable diapers on landfills!) please purchase your Baby Signs Potty Training Kit through my Amazon store. The wee kickback I get pays for the environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies I use for cleaning up Noah’s “accidents” along the way. Thank you!
If you have attempted (or succeeded!) at early potty-training, I would love to hear from you!

Wash my own dishes! What would the neighbors say? May 23, 2008

Have you seen that new commercial for Dixie paper plates? It begins with a mother smiling, “I won’t be defined by the number of dishes I do!”

What the?! How could any person be defined but such an arbitrary activity?
What on earth could this possibly mean? In what situation could this make sense?

At the Mommies Group:
—”Oh, there’s Jane. Did you hear that she does 17 dishes?”
—”I heard it was more like 24! Can you believe it? She must be…”

Be what? Managing a household? Living her life?
Really, who judges someone for cleaning what is soiled?

Maybe what Dixie is trying to infer is that doing dishes means you must be too “poor” to have a dishwasher—and who wants the shame of admitting economic struggle?

Or perhaps what Dixie is getting at is that people who can be defined by the sheer volume of dishes they must wash are fat. After all, how did all those dishes get dirty?

Later in the commercial, another mother shares her relief about how using paper plates allows her more time with her kids. Wouldn’t a mother who has her kids’ best interests in mind prefer to teach them about the environment, recycling and reducing waste? Not to mention the cost saved from not throwing away plate after plate, or the impact on landfills, you would think she’d be more relieved to know she’s protecting her children and grandchildren’s future by also saving some trees.

I’m not anti-paper plate. But I won’t be defined by them, either. And I’m confident that, unlike another one of the ad’s moms, I am stronger than even a Dixie paper plate.

Getting Summer Started with Your Kids May 14, 2008

Even though my children are only 3 years and 1 year, summer’s approach immediately triggers in my mind the childhood idyllic fantasy of *summer vacation* (the asterisks are meant to imply starry-eyed wistfulness. Yeah, bear with me.) While enjoying a day at the beach with my dear, very pregnant friend Vicki and her 2-year-old, Kailin, we decided the kids were old enough for a backyard campout. We must be some kind of child-entertainment geniuses, because I just received an email from party-planner-extraordinaire Lisa Kothari, (author of Dear Peppers and Pollywogs… What Parents Want to Know About Planning Their Kids’ Parties) assuring me that such an event will “turn a hum-drum night into a night of spectacular fun.” OK, I’m sold!  

According to her book, she recommends:
Let the kids sleep outdoors in a tent overnight. Play flashlight tag, get a telescope and gaze at the stars, make tie-dyed t-shirts, or blow bubbles and shine your flashlights on them.
Do we still get points if our husbands do the actual outdoor sleeping alongside our little ones? The woman is due in July, after all. She can’t be expected to fit in a sleeping bag, much less have to traipse inside 8 times a night to pee. 

I like this next tip from Kothari; My kid gets to play with dirt, and I get homegrown strawberries in a few months. Win-win.
Have fun with strawberries. Buy mini strawberry seeds and little terracotta pots. Have the kids decorate the pots and then plant the seeds. For a strawberry relay race, put strawberries on spoons and have the kids race up and down a relay path. For drinks,
freeze strawberries in the ice cubes.

You can find more in her new book or online at www.pepperspollywogs.com

Happy Birthday, Baby! April 17, 2008

I can hardly believe my baby is now one year old! Has it really been 12 months since I gave birth to him right here at home in a birthing tub? I just received an email from WaterbirthInternational.org, reminding us waterbirthers to spread the good word, so here is mine: I used a birthing tub and midwives for my sons’ births; The first time, my labor was only 3.5 hours, and the second was 2 hours. If that isn’t reason enough for you pregnant mommies to look into it, I don’t know what will convince you! It was a beautiful, life-changing experience both times, and the best part is that both mommy and baby are able to meet without having to detox off the drugs first. We are both high on endorphins, mind you, but we are present and alert and able to fall immediately in love.

Noah is a champ! He is trying very hard to repeat everything he hears. He even took a stab at “birthday” this morning. The only words he’s truly nailed so far are mama, dada, baby, cat, hi, and bye. He also likes to roar like a lion, bark like and dog, and is determined to snort like a pig, so far without much success. For nursing, he says, “bu-ahhhh!” and taps me on the chest. (Yes, I’m still nursing. He loves it, my milk is still coming in plentifully, and I’m not the least inconvenienced.) Although, I do have to start thinking about when we might start to wean.

Noah has had eight teeth since about 10 months, and can sit in a high-chair eating finger-foods. He can also drink from a cup. Unlike his older brother Joseph, Noah is a big meat-eater. He likes his veggies, legumes and whole grains, but he has no interest in fruit whatsoever, not even bananas. (Special note: At Christmas when we were in Canada, he loved the strained blueberries and pears we bought there.) With the exception of yogurt, Noah refuses all things sweet, so it should be interesting when we serve him his first birthday cake today. (Hmm, more for me?)

My husband loves Noah’s obsession with blowing raspberries. We have video of him doing it on my shoulder (laughing each time), but he will also do it to my tummy until I’m covered in baby slobber. Ah, to be mommy.

Noah absolutely loves dropping Joseph off at nursery school. He gets so excited just walking through the door. He also loves to rough-play with his big brother, bull-dozing over him in fits of laughter.

Music is his favorite. He will step right up to the organ or piano and begin tapping out sounds and rocking his little booty. He lights up whenever I sing to him (so his taste in music needs some refining!) and he loves to dance and clap and wave his hands. When Dora The Explorer sings the, “We did it! Lo hicimos!” song, I’ve noticed that he dances the twist, just like she does; (from a seated position, that is. He hasn’t begun walking yet, although he will stand and clap blocks together for a few seconds.)

From the night of his birth when I swept him up out of the water and he put his hands on my chest and pushed himself right up to look directly in my eyes, he has been so connected, so content with his world, and so ready to smile. He truly is a gift and we’re so happy to say, “Happy Birthday, Noah!”