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  • A Potty Training Saga

     

    Well, we did it. We survived our hardcore 3-day  potty training weekend. And we've got two little big girls in underpants to prove it. It was such an intense and dramatic event, I feel like I should be writing about it in epic poetry form. Or rhyming couplets or something. But I am a writer of prose, not poetry. And I guess potty training isn't quite on par with the Pelopennesian war. Almost, but not quite.

     

    The important thing is that, we -- like the Spartans -- triumphed. To anyone out there who feels like they're not getting anywhere with the gradual approach to toilet training, whose little ones seem perfectly content in diapers and who (like us) haven't been particularly proactive or consistent about making the move to a diaper-free existence, I'd highly recommend this cold turkey training approach. 

     

    There are lots of books and websites -- not to mention recent commenters on this blog -- who sell books and eBooks on the subject. We followed the guidelines in one lent to us by a friend. But you don't necessarily have to drop $49.99 on some kind of Guaranteed As Seen on TV Top Secret Potty Training Method with FREE bonus DVD and -- if you order now -- Handheld Diaper Shredder, to do this. It's pretty simple.

     

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  • Clio goes commando

    A quick anecdote: Yesterday was rainy and miserable, and after a rather cranky morning (we were determined to resist Clio's pleas for her pacifier, and though it meant listening to her scream for about 20 minutes, we won. We won!) I decided to take the girls over to our local indoor play gym. We had a blast. Elsa did a lot of running around flapping her arms and screaming with excitement, and Clio did a lot of playing with balls. She and I also teamed up on Elsa and rolled her around in a cylindrical mat thing, which Elsa absolutely loved, the little thrillseeker.

     

    As we were getting ready to leave, and Clio was walking around waving and saying "bye!" to everyone in the lobby area, I noticed a big clump of something coming out of the bottom of her overalls. At first I thought it was a wad of napkins or something that she'd stuffed in there (??) then I got closer and saw that it was, in fact, her diaper. (Not dirty or even terribly wet, thank God). Somehow in the midst of all her running around, it had come off and out from under her onesie and down the leg of her pants like some kind of crazy baby party trick. She literally played her pants off.

     

    Someday maybe we'll watch Flashdance together, and during the scene when Jennifer Beals takes her bra off from under her shirt, I'll look over at Clio -- who will be at least 13, because I wasn't allowed to see that movie until I was that old, and I'll be damned if she can -- and say, "you did that with your diaper once when you were little." And she'll roll her eyes at me and say, "I know mom, you told the whole world on your stupid blog." And I'll remind her that I also told the world how much I loved her and how awesome she and her sister are, and hopefully she'll say, "Yeah, I guess so." And then, hopefully, we'll turn off Flashdance and watch something better instead, because, really, it's not a very good movie.

     

     

     

    Happy Mother's Day, all you awesome Babble mamas out there. May your children keep their pants on!

     

     

     

     


  • The Diaper Chronicles

    A few notes on diapers (and related matters) in the Baby Squared household. Note: this post involves graphic discussion of matters scatalogical and butt-o-logical. Reader discretion advised. Because the writer certainly didn't exercise any.

     

    1. Our babies got back, apparently. A couple of weeks ago, we had to switch from size 3 diapers to size 4. We use Seventh Generation, and their size 3 diapers claim to go from 16 - 28 pounds, but my girls are nowhere near 28 pounds! I guess there are some long, tall, skinny-assed 28-pound babies out there that these diapers fit. I would be incredibly curious to see what these children look like. Meanwhile, the size 4 diapers puportedly fit babies from 22-37 pounds. Again, I seriously doubt that either of my girls are 22 pounds yet, but apparently they have 22-37 pound booty, because the size 3 diapers were just not doing the job. I couldn't get the sides to overlap front to back. I had to stre-e-e-tch the tabs, so that sometimes it looked like the girls were wearing string bikinis. Very puffy, bulky, crinkly string bikinis. Not very good for poop containment. And speaking of poop....

     

    2. Solid food poop stinks. Literally and figuratively. Back in the day, when the girls were getting nothing but breastmilk, their poop smelled like buttered popcorn. Seriously! It was almost pleasant. Now -- ugh. Nasty. Multi-hued. Unpredictable. And the fact that they're more mobile and squirmy on the changing table makes cleaning up that much more treacherous. They're also doing their business a lot more frequently, it seems, and at all hours of the day. Clio, especially. In fact, Alastair composed a little song that we like to sing about Clio and her new...er...nocturnal habits:

     

     Sleep pooper! She poops in her sleep!

    Poop sleeper! She sleeps in her poop!

     

    3. If it feels good, do it, right? Yes, of course. It's perfectly natural for babies and children to touch themselves down there. But must they do it while having their diapers changed? I don't want to discourage this sort of happy exploration. I don't want to be saying "no, no, no," while they're getting to know themselves, doin' what comes naturally, etc. But what do you do when your baby is gleefully plunging their little hands into a big ole mess? How do you expain to an 11 month old that yes, it's perfectly OK to touch their own bodies, just NOT NOW, PLEASE! Please.

     

    You know what? I'm sorry. I've gone too far. I've said too much. Special apologies to all you non-parent readers out there. Let me attempt to make it up to you with this very sweet, non-butt-or-poop-or-anything-else-related picture of the girls on their first Thanksgiving, taking a joyride on their new Winnie the Poop -- I mean Pooh -- rider.

     

    Poop poop! Here we come!

     



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About the Blogger

Jane Roper

Jane Roper in Boston

One baby? Piece of cake. Try two. This working mother gives you the inside scoop on the ultimate in extreme parenting: twins.

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