The baby looks a little "children of the corn"-ish.

I'm wondering about Trixie milestones... I know you probably don't have time for a full post, but maybe you could just respond to this comment? Toilet training? Dressing herself? Reading to herself at all? anything else interesting in Trixieland? She's good at running with her eyes closed, we know that much :)

mfk:
1) Trixie has been completely out of diapers since around her 2nd birthday. It's not something that I plan to detail on the site because I think that it that could embarrass Trixie when she is older. There are a few other recent posts that address the issue: Last Call, June 29, 2005 TPOD and September 20, 2005 TPOD
Thanks for understanding!

2) She loves to dress herself. She'll change her shirt several times an hour if we aren't paying attention. She can also go through a weeks worth of socks in about 10 minutes. She likes changing her clothes so much that they have to put her coat on backwards — buttoned up the back, straight-jacket style — so that she won't take it off when running around outside.

3) She likes reading to herself a lot. We give her 10 minutes of reading time (with her nightstand lamp) before bed every night.

Ben
Does Trixie stay dry all night? My oldest has been diaper free since 23mo but wears pullups at night...not sure how to deal with this! Just wondering, don;t need all the details!

Yep, she stays dry :) We haven't used diapers or pull-ups since ~24 months. (There was one overnight accident that I can remember in the last 6 months.) Good luck with the training!

I just want to say - yay for her!!
That's so awesome, and for your budget ;)
And, very cute picture!

I heard that girls are easier to potty train, and I had been planning on having another child right around the time my son turns 2 (assuming that he'd be potty trained by then) so that I don't have 2 kids in diapers, and some people have told me that boys are harder to train and probably won't be completely independant until around 3. Any ideas/tips to start as early as possible? I don't want my kids to be too far apart in age. Thanks!

Valerie- I wouldn't count on your son being out of diapers at 2. Two is on the young side (Trixie is a prodigy!). It is usually 2.5-3 years old, on average. Also, even if you do get him potty trained, if he gets a little bro/sister soon after, he may start having "accidents" frequently as he gets used to having a sibling. Many kids regress after a new baby is born.

My daughter has those same fuzzy periwinkle pajamas. I love the way they feel.

Those Cabbage Patch dolls just look weird to me. Good thing I have boys! HAHA (although my younger son adores babies and has a nice collection himself).

Valerie, I'm with Moxie - my older son didn't potty train until right before his third birthday and it took 1.5 days to go from diapers to big boy underwear. Easiest thing I ever did with him! Having two in diapers would be easier than having none in diapers for a while and then going BACK to diapers with a newborn (BTDT)! You forget so much when they stop the diapering, and starting again is sooooo hard! LOL

Valerie---

my son was completely trained (day and night) by 18 months. It was fantastic!!! I can't say it was anything I did. Each child is different and when they are older who's gonna know anyway at what age they were out of diapers. It's part of the package when you have children. Relax and enjoy the time!!!!! My third was a charm!!!!

AND, Don't believe anyone that girls are easier!!!! As I said they are all different .. you can't count on things going as you might plan. Just had to add that!!!! :)

benmac, a question for you:
do you all have tv "battles"? do you have a policy with her? we are struggling with limiting the tv and since i'm so impressed with much of your parenting (you seem to be fosterin such an independant little girl!), though i'd ask.
thanks in advance.

We had postponed potty training our first, because the baby was due when he turned two. When the baby came home from the hospital, the older one took a look at the baby being changed and said he wanted to be a "big boy"! He refused to wear *baby diapers* and he trained himself that very day!!

It was a long time ago, but our two boys each trained quickly at around 20 to 22 months -- a big coffee makes an interesting noise and they wanted to use it all the time, thought it was great fun.
granddaddy

our daughter trained before 2 but still has night time issues. our son will be 3 in april and has absolutely no interest in the potty and we have another due in late may. i was hoping to have him in underwear by then but i'm not holding my breath! in my experience, boys are more difficult but as someone said, all kids are different!

Jane: We let Trixie watch TV in the morning until 8am. And I sometimes let her watch TV while I'm making dinner (if arts'n'crafts isn't cutting it). And as much as it pains Jenn and I, we never watch TV during dinner.

Side note: I used to hate Dragon Tales, but now I totally get it. I currently hate Bob the Builder and Clifford. I like Arthur. And Zooboomafoo rocks.

Please share what there is to get about Dragon Tales. It drives me crazy. That wimpy little pink one, that dorky, whiny dumb fat one, and that annoyingly shrill hyper one w/the other head. Yuck. I don't like Clifford much either. Arthur rocks and Postcards from Buster is my all-time favorite. Not that anyone asked or cares.

What about Caillou. My niece loves him.

WE LOVE PUBLIC BROADCASTING! I THINK DRAGON TALES AND CAILLOU WINE TOO TOO MUCH! BUT MY GIRLS LOVE CLIFFORD, SESAME STREET AND NOW THE NEW ONE, WITH THE SLOTH? SOMETHING ABOUT THE "WORLD TREE"? BEATS THE HECK OUT OF LAZY TOWN, WIGGLES OR SPONGEBOB....ESPECIALLY SPONGEBOB, HE IS NOT ALLOWED AT OUR HOUSE!

Benmac,

You may be able to kill two birds here by televising Trixie and just having a direct feed to your own set. You'll have to watch out for PETA on the goldfish issues, but otherwise, I think you'll make it past the network censors.

What's wrong with Spongebob, Shouty McShouterson?

I actually really hated Spongebob for no good reason before I had kids. And now I really like it and so does my daughter. And I don't get the "we don't have spongebob in our house" haters. (I'm not singling out 2girlmama, my sister in law says it too!) It's perfectly innocent fun. Sure it's not educational, but my kid watches Sesame Street too.

As for Dragon Tales, I think it's the theme music that really gets to me. I actually LOL'd at Hannah's description. Those are the lamest dragons I've ever come across!

As for LazyTown, sure it's annoying, but at least it encourages active play. My 20 month old has watched it a handful of times and jumps and dances during the whole show when she watches it.

And nobody asked or cares what I like either, but I really like Cyber Chase.