Baby Squared

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• The frog in my throat, and other calamities

  I've had a cold this week, no doubt partly as a result of the exhaustion and sleeplessness of our potty training intensive last weekend. The other day, my voice sounding particularly scratchy and ridiculous, I told the girls that I had a frog in my throat. Of course, I quickly realized that this would sound absurd to them, and explained that I didn't actually have a frog in my throat; it was just an expression. (Like that would really clear things up.) "Sort of like a joke," I clarified. They chewed on this for a little while (not literally), and somehow it became, "You have a frog in your mouth so that's why you make a funny joke!"     I rather like this interpretation -- that there's some kind of comedian amphibian in my mouth, and every time I open my mouth to speak, he comes out with a joke -- "What is the deal with toads? I mean, they look like frogs, but the fuckers can't swim!" --  in his hoarse (not horse) froggy voice.   Pic after the jump     Read More... Posted Oct 16 2009, 09:18 PM by Roper with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: twins, poop, twin language acquisition, toddlers, twin toddlers, potty training, toilet training twins, language acquisition, frogs, metaphors

• Potty Boot Camp: Dispatch

  Potty boot camp began this morning at approximately 0900 hours. Elsa was (quote) very excited to be wearing underpants! (end quote). Clio, more reluctant. Sat half-naked on a pair of them for awhile before finally conceding to put on a pair. (Not the pair she'd been sitting on.)   Next maneuver: proceeded to pitch all remaining diapers into a trash bag (to be given to the first worthy size 5 toddler we can locate), pitch the changing pads and diaper pails onto the porch, and start pushing liquids. No action until approximately 1.5 hours later when frequent urination began.    Read More... Posted Oct 09 2009, 04:13 PM by Roper with | with 14 comment(s) Filed under: twins, twin toddlers, potty training, potty training twins, potty training readiness, boot camp

• Back to School

  I know it's a little early to be thinking about back-to-school season, but, hey, retailers are doing it. So, I'm jumping on the proud American premature back-to-school promotion bandwagon.   In the Baby Squared household, we've got two very significant educational events on the horizon for September, both of which I'm looking forward to, mostly with excitement, but also with a touch of apprehension and sadness. (Isn't that always the case when it comes to going back to school?)  They are:   1. Potty Training. Not the sort of half-assed, stop and start, awareness-building potty training we've been doing up until this point. I'm talking the three-day intensive approach, which I've heard has gotten really good results for a number of people I know. (For their children, that is.) I've got a book, I've got the big girl underpants, and I'm ready to roll. The plan is to do it the weekend after we get back from our vacation in New Hampshire, in early September. (We fear that if we attempt it before that, they might backslide while we're on vacay. And also, frankly, we don't want to have to deal with trekking back and forth from our cabin -- or wherever we happen to be during the day -- to the public bathrooms.)     Read More... Posted Aug 14 2009, 09:24 AM by Roper with | with 18 comment(s) Filed under: twins, twin toddlers, potty training, potty training twins, preschool, potty training readiness, preschool readiness, spitting

• Potty Training: Is it time to get serious?

  Whenever someone asks if we've started potty training the girls, I'm not quite sure what to say. In a way, yes, I guess we have. We try to get them to sit on the potty before bedtime and naptime, which they're usually amenable to, as long as they've got a couple of books to read. Every once in a while, they actually produce something, and they seem proud of themselves. But they seem just as happy to go in the diapers. Elsa does ask to sit on the potty now and then, but more often than not, it's a stalling technique -- she doesn't want to go to sleep or go upstairs and get ready for bed. Still, i's hard to say "no, you don't need to sit on the potty right now." Because every once in a while, she actually does go. She's the girl who cried potty.   During the day, however, when they're happily engaged in playing, the girls have no interest in potty breaks. They like to announce when they're making (or about to make?) a pee-pee or poo-poo, but when I ask or suggest sitting on the potty, they resist. And I'm thinking it's probably not a good idea (not to mention physically impossible) to *force* them, screaming and crying, to sit on the pot.      Read More... Posted Jun 11 2009, 01:34 PM by Roper with | with 21 comment(s) Filed under: twins, poop, twin toddlers, potty training, potty training twins, toilet training, toilet training twins, potty mouth, pee

• Potty Girls

  Last night marked a momentous occasion in the Baby Squared household: it was the first time that one of the girls (Elsa, namely) asked to sit on the potty and actually produced something!  We've had the potties (or "Bobby" as they used to be known) since the summer, and the girls have gone through little phases where they like sitting on them. Often, they'll say "sitty potty?" right as or after they are making a deposit in their diaper, and will go and sit down, diapers still on. We haven't tried to press the issue, because it hasn't seemed like they're quite ready yet.   Then, last night, as I was putting the girls to bed, Elsa started saying, "Elsa make a poopie! Sitty potty! Sitty potty!"  At first I thought it was just a ploy to delay bed time; we had friends over, and both girls were totally hyper and wound-up. But she was quite insistent. So I brought her into the bathroom, unzipped her sleeper, unsnapped the onesie, took off the diaper (jeez! so many damned layers!) and sat her on the potty, where she stayed for a few minutes, alternately saying "Elsa makey poopie" and pointing out various items in the bathroom. I didn't hear, see, or smell any evidence of actual poopie-making going on, so after a few minutes, I decided it was time for her to get up, get dressed, and go back to the crib. But when she stood up -- lo and behold! -- there was pee in the potty!   Read More... Posted Jan 16 2009, 09:05 PM by Roper with | with 21 comment(s) Filed under: twins, potty training, potty training twins, elmo, el guapo

• Introducing Bobby

  I'd like to take this post to introduce the newest member of the Baby Squared household, Bobby. Who, you ask, is Bobby? Did we buy a hamster? Is it a long-lost cousin come to crash on our couch? Or have I been secretly pregnant for the past nine months and this is our new baby boy? No, no, no. Bobby is bright pink and made of molded plastic. There are two of him, actually -- one upstairs and one down. And Bobby isn't his actual name, it's just what Elsa calls him. It. OK, OK, enough with the personification ruse. I'm talking potties, people.     (You'll forgive me for not including any pictures in this post.)    Read More... Posted Aug 07 2008, 03:40 PM by Roper with | with 18 comment(s) Filed under: twins, potty training, potty training twins, toilet training, toilet training twins