Jolie, our almost 3-year old, has been freaking us out with her behavior lately. She has crying fits whenever she is frustrated, even in very minor ways. For example, Grandpa emptied her potty chair today without realizing that she needed to do that (she must do ALL things herself), and felt her wrath descend upon him. Seriously, it's not like he wanted to do it. Yet one thing led to another and attempts to wipe her now running nose and eyes were met with GREATER WRATH. We'll be lucky if he ever helps out again.

She's also been hitting out of anger and frustration lately, even throwing in a bite here and there, much to our horror. It's been a land of time-outs galore, prompting many discussions between my husband and me. Is this three? Is she a brat? Are we doing something wrong?

Some days have just been NOT FUN. Poke your eyes out not fun.

Her aggressive behavior seems to happen… Read More

From the first night we moved Jolie into her own room after sharing ours, we've had a baby monitor on duty. I, going through much anguish and turmoil to be separated from my daughter, kept the monitor turned up so I could still hear each grunt, sigh and whimper. If we couldn't be physically close, at least we could be audibly. Well, at least one-way audibly. In our old house, the distance between our rooms was not that far, but… Read More

Well, it's been ten weeks and our breastfeeding sessions are no longer punctuated by my silent screams of anguish and trauma. I've ditched the breastfeeding pillows (he's big enough to hang out comfortably resting on my lap), and my issues with overactive letdown are basically resolved. JL still occasionally chokes and sputters, but he is much better able to handle the flow. The weird clicking noises he was making signfiying breaking of the air seal also… Read More

Oh! There's nothing that divides parents more than "sleep training." I've been reading some message boards on the topic and, LORD, does it ever get heated! I'm talking about people writing personal attacks about others on the boards who defend one position or the other.

Why all the hate?

People seem to use the term "Cry It Out," or more affectionately, "CIO," to refer to a number of different methods out there that aim to help children sleep better while tolerating a certain… Read More

With this last pregnancy, I gained 42 pounds. 42! I thought it would end up being much less than last time since I was eating better and my weight rise wasn't quite so exponential (last time it was 51!).

When JL was 2 weeks old, I had lost 20 pounds, fast weight loss that I attribute to baby, excess fluid retention, placenta, and the like. After that, the scale hardly moved.

Since then, it's been fairly slow and steady: In… Read More

Age of potty warrior: 2 years, 11 months

Date of initial potty training: Memorial Day Weekend, 2007

Since the last chapter of The Potty Diaries, we've continued to offer "Big Candy" as a reward for staying dry after naps and overnights. Big candy is code for fun-size Halloween-style candy treats as opposed to the original and still going strong Pee Pee Candy, M&Ms. The tantalizing Big Candy reward had helped convince Jolie that, indeed, settling down to try… Read More