Review: BabyBjorn Potty Chair

I figured I would do a quick review on the potty chair we are using...

Pros:
comfortable
easy to clean
sturdy
no setup necessary

Cons:
pricy ($28)
cannot be used as a stepping stool like other potty chairs

So, the boildown: after reading many reviews on various potty chairs out there, I concluded the BabyBjorn potty chair was the one. I wish we had not spent almost $60 on potty chairs, but Amor Chiquito loves them and we have no complaints about them whatsoever.

You can get it in white, pink, and green.

Here it is:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2267519

Shoes...

Have I ever mentioned that I am a bargain hunter? I love finding deals! So, if anyone out there is about to buy shoes, here is some info!

Famous Footwear is having their buy one get one half off sale again.

I found two coupons you can use this weekend to get an additional 10% off the order.

On the coupon field, type "pumpkin" or "hol9999."

To find coupons you can use online, check out retailmenot.com. Type a website address on the search box (famousfootwear.com, for example). You will get a list of reliable and not reliable coupons.

I just got my mother and I very comfortable, highly recommended running shoes for $67 (for the two pairs)!

Happy shopping!

Mischief!

Amor Chiquito has been quite mischivious today!

She wanted to have Teddy Grahams for breakfast. Geeky Entrepreneur said "first bread, then cookies." She looked and pointed at me and said "mommy"! Too bad, kid, you were screwed no matter who you talked to!

Later on, at my mother's house, Ari brought me a pickup truck and said "peepee." I said "peepee in the potty." She said "no, peepee" and handed me the pickup truck. I still didn't get it! (Reminder: my eyesight is terrible!) I put my hand in there and, well, my fingers were swimming in baby pee!

That was not an accident, by any means! That was mischief! Amor Chiquito knew there was a potty in the bathroom. She has used it dozens of times. That was experimentation. That was creativity at its best!

I give her credit for the creativity, but I did tell her that peepee only goes in the potty, not in cars!

Usually, Geeky Entrepreneur loves to celebrate Halloween, but he is not feeling well and does not want to risk getting anyone infected. I could care less about Halloween. So, the only celebrating here is that Ari got to enjoy a bag of mini m&m's. It was the first time ever she had them. Amor Chiquito loved them! She wanted more, infact.

Now, Amor Chiquito wants cookies for dinner, just like this morning. We settled on "first rice, then cookies." We'll give her six Teddy Grahams or so. Mean, I know! But, you must admit, I did keep my end of the deal!

Yo You and Bye, Muah, Bye, Muah...

I can't believe I forgot about this as I was typing last night...

The cutest and sweetest thing lately: "I yo you"!

She started saying it last weekend.

Hearing my child saying I love you in her own little way to my husband or myself is... Undescribable...

When Geeky Entrepreneur comes home and she says it... Well, what can I say? I bet she could get just about anything out of him right that second!

When I tell Amor Chiquito that it is night night time, she goes to Geeky Entrepreneur and says "bye, muah, bye, muah," over and over again!

An update on us...

I had not blogged in ages. Ok, that is not true! It had been 10 days!

Last week, I was not in a good place. Several things went wrong. And, to be honest, I was feeling pretty down, but, there is no way in hell I was going to blog about how I kept feeling that my life sucked. Why? Because I know that was my I'm-depressed perspective. I know that is not true. There are too many parents out there whose kids never came home, little ones out there fighting to stay alive, etc. If I ever post something that stupid, you have permission to give me a virtual kick!

If you are curious, here is the list:

All three of us had bad, can't sleep colds. No, I don't think it was/is swine flu.

Three days in a row, Ari would not nap. Have I ever mentioned how much I need that break, the me-time to enjoy a shower, exercise, go on the computer...?

Several nights, Ari would wake up at two or three am and was unable to fall back asleep for the next four to five hours.

So, she was sleeping six to eight hours a day. Serious sleep deprivation for all...

I called the pediatrician, and, a week later, I am still waiting for her referral to someone who can help us. Very unlike her. At least things are better in the sleep department now.

My father, who is chronically ill, had pneumonia.

There is someone in my family who is very much into gossip and drama and is causing a great deal of trouble and pain. Damn it, why can’t people grow up?

The kicker... We are suspicious/afraid that someone I love very dearly is doing drugs. I will not say more about that here, but, needless to say, I am heart-broken and feeling helpless, as there is not a thing I can do, other than offer support if/when he needs it. I so wish I could wake up one morning and know, for sure, that, no, there is no or no longer a drug problem.

The family stuff is still there, but we are healthy (well, Geeky Entrepreneur is still working on it) and I am doing my best to stay positive. I owe it to my child, my husband and myself. Exercising for 20 to 30 minutes every day is helping. And, I am getting more sleep! That's a big one!

I have considered anti-depressants, but I rather try "crunchy" things before I opt to go there. So, if you have any suggestions, I am all ears! For now, I am drinking nasty chamomile tea! It is probably not doing crap, but I figured I will give it a try for a while longer.

Onto positive stuff…

Amor Chiquito is only using two diapers a day, one for naptime and one if we go out. She is starting to ask for the potty when we are out or peeing when we come home.

We have many phrases now! Her favorites: "mano (hand) teti," teti mouth," "mas teti," "daddy baby."

As you can tell, many of her phrases have to do with breastfeeding. She is still very much into it and I have no idea when she will wean herself. We night-weaned. But I am fine with daytime breastfeeding. I can see her breastfeeding until she is three. Actually, I will be surprised if she weans herself before then.

Amor Chiquito loves to point at herself and say "daddy baby"! I love it! Too cute!

Amor Chiquito is learning about puzzles and about animal sounds. Thanks, Yaminette!

She is also learning letters. Thanks for the blocks, Liz! She loves to stack them and name the letters she knows. Her favorite part is to knock them over, of course!

Amor Chiquito is very much enjoying drawing and playing with play dough.

I think that is about it... Time to nurse the baby for the last time and hope she goes to sleep. Speaking of, I can't believe she does not have a baby face anymore! I can't believe my baby is no longer a "baby"! I guess maybe I should stop calling her “the baby?” We’ll see...

Donating Hair

I just came across a blog entry about donating hair. The blogger posted this link:
http://www.queensjournal.ca/story/2008-03-14/news/long-and-short-it/

If there is anyone out there reading this and living in Canada, perhaps the agency mentioned in the article might be of interest to you.

Here is a confession for you...!

I got my hair cut last December, about 15 inches. It is braided, in a bag, in my dresser, waiting for me to figure out what agency I should send it to. Beyond pathetic, I know.

I did some research months ago, but was not successful in finding a reputable-sounding agency.

If someone can direct me to an agency that will really use my hair to make a wig for a cancer patient, I would very much appreciate it.

I am hoping that next summer my hair will be long enough for another donation. Agencies look for at least 10 inches of hair.

If you can't donate your hair, I am sure you can do something else. Go give blood, instead, for example. Or, volunteer at a local oncology unit.

We spent the weekend with Nana.

Saturday afternoon, we spent some time with my father and then drove to the in-laws’. Ari did very well on the car ride. She slept most of the ride.

Ari has been doing very well in the potty training department, but I opted to leave the potty chair at home. No good reason, simply because I did not want to bring yet one more thing. Bad idea! When we were at my dad’s, she asked to use the potty. When Amor Chiquito realized there was no potty, she was unsure about what to do. She was very intimidated by the toilet. Saturday, Amor Chiquito opted to wear diapers, but, by Sunday morning, she was ok with using the toilet at Nana’s, as long as someone held her, obviously.

We had five bags for a 24-28 hour trip!
Small diaper bag in case we went out somewhere for a few hours
Large diaper bag full of cloth diapers
Lunch box full of snacks for Amor Chiquito
Tiny backpack with clothes for Geeky Entrepreneur and I
Backpack with my laptop

See why I did not want to bring yet one more thing?! But I will next time. I am thinking of buying a portable potty.

Back to the trip, everything went well. Ari had tons of fun with Nana. We co slept Saturday night and Amor Chiquito did so, so well. She slept for over six hours before she woke up looking for mommy milk. Once Amor Chiquito realized Nana was awake, there was no way to get her to go back to bed. So off with Nana she went. And, we got to sleep in, for real! We stayed in bed until 10am. Wow! It has been a very, very long time! We decided we ought to go see Nana more often!

Everyone kept complementing Amor Chiquito because she says please and thank you most of the time. Some people were surprised at how well she is doing in the potty training department.

Every child has her/his strengths and weaknesses, if you will, so do not get discouraged if yours is older than mine and is not potty trained. Yours probably has been saying phrases for ever and Amor Chiquito just started saying a few, for example.

On a different topic, Amor Chiquito’s great-grandmother told me how the way to get her used to the toddler bed is to hit her and she will do great after that. I politely listened and ignored every word she said. Perhaps, I should/could have shared my opinion on this and how we successfully discipline our child. But I figured what was the point? She is 80; she will not be disciplining kids. Actually, come to think of it, I am wrong because she does babysit from time to time and she loves to give people advice and I am sure some people listen/take her advice. What is done is done, but I do think I will respond differently should the topic come up again. Part of me feels that I should not say anything. I hate confrontation, particularly when it is someone who is very set in her ways and who has parented many children, for much, much longer than I have. But, part of me feels that I should because, you know what, I am a mother and I do have valuable thoughts/opinions. Most importantly, I parent in a way that is respectful, considerate, and generates results.

Off my soapbox now…!

Back to the trip, Sunday night, we drove home and, again, Amor Chiquito slept most of the ride. We got to celebrate Nana’s birthday and everyone was happy. The only bad thing is that what little progress I had made in the weight loss department was gone, just gone! Back to eating well and getting on the elliptical every day!

We are so happy that we can travel again, even if it is only a weekend at a time.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

Taking some time to send my thoughts and hugs to those grieving after the passing of their little one(s).

Article: Five New Parent Arguments and How to Avoid Them

Some of my readers are past the new parent stage, but some are there right now and some hope to be there in a few years.

Check out this article:
http://www.parenthood.com/article-topics/5_new_parent_arguments_and_how_to_avoid_them.html

The author was right on. A new child at home means lots of readjusting, different expectations, a whole new life. It is beautiful, but it can and is difficult and stressful at times.

The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to talk about things before everyone is tired and tense. That is not always possible, of course. So do the next best thing: talk as things come up, but remind yourself that you chose to make that baby and bring her/him into this world with the one you love. Remind yourself of why you fell in love with that person and why you love him/her today. Remind yourself that the person is not trying to be mean or irresponsible. Most likely, your loved one is simply exhausted or unawear of how you are feeling, what you need, and how badly you need it.

Long story short: talk, talk, talk... And, for God's sakes, don't be passive-aggressive. That is lame and does not lead anyone anywhere.

Thanks, Yaminette!

Aliens took over me yesterday!

I am not into cooking. Geeky Entrepreneur does most of the cooking. I only cook because I have to. I am a grown-up with a family and stuff, you know!

But, yesterday, some alien took over! I got inspired. I wanted something healthy, but delicious.

I made the America's Test Kitchen low-fat macaroni and cheese recipe, with a twist!

I am not a big fan of the America’s Test Kitchen recipes because they often are very time-consuming, but this particular recipe was not very time-consuming. There were several steps, but each step only took two to four minutes.

I used different cheeses because Geeky Entrepreneur does not like ricotta. I ended up using romano, asiago, and cheddar.

I used whole-wheat flour.

And, most importantly, I used whole-wheat pasta.

My husband won't let me live it down! He kept wondering if I was sick, had a fever, something…!

It was quite yummy, despite the fact I forgot some steps! I know Geeky Entrepreneur really liked it because he had seconds. Ari, on the other hand, opted to have cereal for dinner! Talk about a slap on the face! As her daddy says, she is lucky she is so cute!

A few stories...

Here are a few stories about Amor Chiquito...

Last night, Amor Chiquito was singing. Her microphone was a toy hotdog!

Earlier today, Amor Chiquito did not want the diaper I was going to put on because it was “friea” (cold). She took off, butt-naked, and sat on her toy car. Amor Chiquito said the following: “Ari, cah, bye-bye”!

A little while ago, Amor Chiquito was at Abuela’s. We have a one-disposable-diaper/day-at-Abuela’s policy. Amor Chiquito needed some boundaries in that regard. She peed on her disposable and wanted another one. Abuela said there were no more disposables.

Picture the following:
A little girl running in circles, saying “no, no, no, pappo, pappo, pappo”!!!

Pappo = disposable diaper.

I am extremely biased, but she is too funny!

Realization regarding our eating habbits...

As I have written before, we are trying to eat healthier. The other day I realized something that made me happy and that shows we are making progress.

Everything in this house is whole grains, except white rice.

We only buy wholewheat bread. Stop & Shop wholewheat bread makes delicious French toasts.

There is now only wholewheat pasta in our home.

We recently started eating English muffins, the double fiber, wholewheat kind by Thomas. They have a bit of honey in them. They are quite yummy.

When we snack on crackers, it's Triscuits or All Bran crackers.

I am trying to get the family to eat more brown rice, but Ari isn't too thrilled and Geeky Entrepreneur isn't much into it either. I am not worried about it because everything else is whole grains.

So, again, one more step in the transition to crunchiness!

Cloth Grocery Bags

I had been considering switching to cloth grocery bags for months. When we went to Boston, my friend Yaminette and I went shopping for the kids and she used one. I liked how efficiently you can pack the things!

The other day I was at the grocery store and there they were, only $.99/bag. So I decided to give it a shot and got four.

I have used them twice and I really like them. Give them a shot.

If you care about the environment, you are not using as much plastic and you don't need to worry about bringing them somewhere to be recycled.

My husband claims this is one more step in the transition to crunchiness, so there you have it. I am yet a bit crunchier!

A Crunchy Tip: Olive Oil for Baby's Bum

I have now read this on several websites and blogs. Apparently, olive oil helps with diaper rashes.

I have not put olive oil on Ari's bum, in case you are wondering! I might when she gets her next diaper rash, though. I'll let you know how it goes!

A comment/email with some silly remark from my husband is on the way, I just know it!

Picture this...

Geeky Entrepreneur comes home from a business meeting. What did he come home to? A wife who was almost losing it because Amor Chiquito just would not take a nap, among other things, and a little girl who was proud as can be because she peed and pooped in the potty. Amor Chiquito proudly handed her daddy the bowl with poop and began clapping! So, there he was, clapping, congratulating her, and handling poop, in his suit jacket!

Tell me that wasn't funny!

Cream cheese on your chocolate chip waffle, anyone?

That is what Ari ate the other night. Seriously. I am not making that up!

Weird. Whatever makes her happy!

Hitting your kid is the only effective way, really?

Another rant, be warned!

My mom was watching what turned out to be a very annoying, misinformed tv show. Some people believed that hitting your child is essential, a must, so you can successfully discipline your child. Others were saying that all a child needs is love. Not making this crap up!

I happen to disagree very strongly with both points of view. Shocker! What else is new?! I am very much a do-my-own-thing type of person. I research things, educate myself, analyze the possible outcomes, make my own decisions (with my husband, of course, particularly when it comes to my child). Ultimately, we do what we think is right. Frankly, I don't give a damn what our relatives think! Facts are worth much more than opinions to me. I do not mean that I do not welcome advice. I mean that, to me, advice with facts to back it up is worth so much more than simply "I did x, so you should too."

Don't have a lot of time right now, but here are my beliefs and how we respond to unwelcomed behaviors...

Lots of positive reinforcement.

Try to make being around parents fun. Every day, do something fun with your kid. Little things at home make kids so happy... I wish you could hear Ari's laugh when she runs after her daddy trying to catch him!

Lovingly, calmly and respectfully set limits.

If you say no, mean it. Otherwise, your word as a parent is worth crap. If your word is not worth a damn, then don't get mad at your child when the child does not listen to you. It's your own damn fault, no offense!

Enforce the limits/boundaries. If you said "if you do a, x will happen," make x happen. Take away what you said you would take away.

Consequences come immediately. When Ari thinks spilling juice on the floor is cool, I immediately say "ut-oh," take the juice away, and I don't give her attention until the tantrum is over.

Once the situation has passed, it belongs there, in the past. We give her a hug, tell her we love her, and move on, onto fun stuff.

It goes without saying that no one parent is perfect, but if you communicate that your word is worth something and if there are consequences to your kids' actions, they will get the hint.

We all have bad days and frustrating moments. No one is 100% consistent. Every parent loses it every now and then. Being a parent does not mean you stop being human. But if we do our best and do right by our kids, hopefully we will be proud parents one, five, twenty years from now...

Don't you love unsolicited opinions? A rant, be warned!

Today I was chatting with someone and she was asking about Ari. Sleep woes came up.

She said: You have to wean her. She won't sleep well till you wean her.

Oh my God!!! Not again!

My response: *Name*, no offense, but that is bullshit.

I said it to her, I will type it on this blog, and I will say it 100 times if necessary. THAT IS BULLSHIT.

Tell me, why the hell do people insist in telling you that your child will sleep better once you… feed them cereal, feed them solids, wean them, get them out of your bed…? What’s next? Once they are potty trained? Once they go to preschool?

She said that so-and-so's baby is on formula, is on a schedule, never wakes up in the middle of the night because that routine is all he has known. Breastfed babies, on the other hand, get used to eating every two hours, so they wake up in the middle of the night until they are weaned.

Again, I repeat: that is bullshit.

The ironic thing is that one of her kids was breastfed until age one and the other one only until six weeks. Neither one slept "well." So there goes that theory!

I night-weaned Ari and she still wakes up. My friend weaned completely for health reasons at 21 months and five months later, her son still wakes up once. My former professor/advisor's breastfed son was sleeping ten hours straight at seven months. There are plenty of formula babies out there that wake up and want their parents in the middle of the night.

So, in case you did not read it above: that is bullshit.

Children want their parents at 3am because they are used to falling asleep with something of their parents' nearby, whether it is simply the parent's presence, a little walk in the bedroom, a hug, holding the parent's hand... Yes, the boob is what they want in many cases, but that is not it. Otherwise, they would magically put themselves to sleep the minute you night-wean them. As you know, that is not the case. You saw all my posts about our experiences with weaning and sleeping night after night. Ari understood that there was no nursing until daytime, but she wanted to put her hand on my chest. I am now working on holding hands, rather than the hand on my chest.

By the way, you know what, if the fact my child breastfeeds has anything whatsoever to do with her night wakings, I still would do it again, in a heartbeat. Breastfeeding benefits both baby and mother in so many ways. So many stories have proven or found correlations between breastfeeding and positive things... In fact, I will endeavor to find a few and post them on here.

Why the night wakings, you wonder? Children have shorter sleep cycles than we do. If I remember correctly, the length of a young child's sleep cycle ranges from 60 to 90 minutes. So all children wake up in the middle of the night, just like we do. The trick is whether or not the child can put her/himself back to sleep without any assistance from a parent.

I would sleep a lot better if Ari put herself to sleep independently. I would be more rested. That is true. But, you know what? Parenting is a 24/7 job. My job does not end at 5pm. Does this mean that I am happy with the current set up, that I do not want her to be able to put herself back to sleep independently? Of course not. I can't wait, in fact! I am freakin' tired, if you had not heard!

Here is the difference: we are willing to gently transition her because my #1 priority is that my child is securely attached to her parents. For those of you unfamiliar with psychobabble, attachment has to do with the relationship that a child has with her/his parents. Is there a sense of trust? Does the child know that the parents will protect her/him? Does the child know that the parents will always return, that he/she will not be abandoned? A securely attached child knows this. This, in turn, helps the child develop her/his independence. A securely attached child will be a better partner in her/his relationships as a grownup. That child will grow up to be confident, not clingy. Again, there are plenty of studies that prove this. An insecurely attached child, one whose parents did not respond to her/his needs during the early years, either cries inconsolably when a parent leaves or does not give a damn if mom walks away. These are the people who grow up to be non-trusting people or people who cannot have a close, fulfilling relationship due to their own, personal issues.

I know a two-year-old who is an excellent example of ambivalent attachment. He will be around strangers. His mother walks away and he could care less. He is so used to her walking away, to her ignoring his calls for help. Very sad. That is not what I want for my kid. That is why when people told me to let her scream it out at three months, I said no, not now, not ever. At three months, babies do not have object permanence. In other words, if you leave, you do not exist. They do not comprehend that you are simply in another room of the house, that you will return if they really need you.

Let me clarify... I don't mean that Ari never cries. There is always some crying. That is unavoidable. But we are there, visible, in her room, holding her hand if that is what she needs. What we need to work on is to make it so that we can slowly get farther and farther away until she does not need us in the room at all. I am confident that will happen. She will know that she can put herself to sleep but that mom and dad will be there if she is afraid, is not feeling well, is hurt, etc.

Woe, long rant. rant over! I feel better now. Time for bed...

Progress in the potty training department...

Last night, Ari said "pee-pee" and Geeky Entrepreneur brought her to the potty. After a few minutes, she peed. It was ridiculous how excited we were! We were clapping! Positive reinforcement at its best!

I decided that after each meal, I would bring her to the potty.

After lunch, I brought her to the potty at Abuela's. She sat down, got up, walked, sat down again, over and over again...

I told her she had a choice: either potty or diaper. She said "pie" (potty).

A few minutes later, she came out and said she had pooped. It was true!

Time to be ridiculous again! This time, it was my mother and I.

Later on, she peed in the potty at Abuela's.

And, just now, as I type this, she said "pee-pee" and peed in the potty.

Good job, little girl.

Time to buy cloth training pants. There are several out there, but I am not sure which ones work best. Unfortunately, there are not tons of reviews, like there are for cloth diapers. I guess trial and error it is. One of each and then buy more of our favorite. Any suggestions out there?

We can travel chaos-free again!

Last weekend, we drove to Boston to see friends. We spent one night away from home. Ari did so, so well! I was very pleased. I could not believe it went so smoothly!

We left on Saturday at naptime. By the time we got to the gas station, she was asleep. She slept almost the entire ride. She woke up about 15 minutes before we got to my friend's Yaminette's place.

We spent the afternoon and evening with Yaminette, her husband, and her little one, who is two months older than Amor Chiquito. The kids had a blast, mostly playing with trains and riding a car. The guys got to chat. The girls got to catch up. It felt great. It was not chaotic at all, like one of our get-togethers was. I think last weekend worked well because we made sure we got together after the kids napped.

We slept at Yaminette's place. We were wondering how it would work, praying that one of the kids would not cry, wake the other kid up, and having the night turn into a nightmare.

The only thing that went wrong is that Ari did not fall asleep until 10:30pm. Very minor issue.

Each baby only woke up once and the other baby was able to sleep through it.

The kids played a bit more in the morning and then we left to see our friend Liz.

We had a funny episode at Liz's. Liz shared a very yummy watermelon with us. Ari ate lots of it. She would not stop peeing! She was peeing every ten minutes or so. I swear I am not making this up! I think we went through five diapers while we were there. I eventually ran out of cloth diapers. Fortunately, we had some disposable diapers in our trunk. Ari was in heaven because she got to wear "pappos"!

Five minutes after we left Liz's, Ari was asleep. She woke up when we pulled into our driveway.

That's what I call success!

We spent a few hours with Sarah and Moo (Will, I mean)! Again, Ari was rested. All was well.

Stories about last weekend... Geeky Entrepreneur and I got exposed to lots of yummy food. This led to many jokes...

We love meat and Yaminette and her husband eat vegan. Yaminette and I had fun figuring out where we would have dinner. There were plenty of options. It's just that any time we talk about food, I must remind her "whatever the hell kind of food you want, just make sure they have chicken!"

On Sunday morning, the crunchy woman offered us vegan pancakes! I must pick on her! How could she dare?! I will admit it: they were yummy.

As if that was not enough, she offered us super crunchy juice (apple, ginger, and broccoli)! Tasty, but super spicy! If I did not have terrible reflux, I would have really enjoyed it. But don't ever tell her I said that! Oh, wait, you read this, oops!

Lastly, at Liz's, there was a very yummy potato, bacon and cheese pie waiting for us. The hell with vegan food! As if that was not enough, there was a blueberry coffeecake that was more like cream cheese with a thin layer of cake. Yumm, my kind of cake! Oh, and there was a delicious fruit salad. Remember the watermelon peeing episode?

Diapers need to be washed. More later... Looking forward to our next little trip.