Annie, Sit down. Sit down, Annie. That’s one.

Kiersten…leave the soap alone.

Kiersten, stop taking Annie’s toys

Annie, sit down. That’s two.

Kiersten, I said stop taking Annie’s toys. Give it back to her.

Right now, Kiersten, not later.

Kiersten, sit down. That’s one.

Annie, don’t put your face in the water, you’re not a fish.

Kiersten, get up. You can’t lay in the tub, there’s not enough room.

Kiersten Leave the soap alone! You’re going to get it in your eyes.

Hold still, let me wash your hands off so you don’t get soap in your eyes.

NO! Don’t touch your face you’ll get soap in your eyes!!

(Kiersten screams ’cause she’s got soap in her eyes)

I told you not to touch your face. You should have let me wash your hands.

Annie, sit down. That’s three. Next time you stand up you’re getting out of the tub.

Kiersten, stop hitting Annie with that toy. She doesn’t want to play with it.

Don’t pour the water out of the tub. Keep the water in the tub.

Annie! I said sit down. Now you have to get out of the tub.

Kiersten! Leave the soap alone! Do you want soap in your eyes again? No? Then leave the soap alone!

Annie, come back here, you need your diaper on before you can go anywhere. I don’t want you to pee on my floor.

Kiersten, hold on, let me get Annie’s diaper on. Don’t climb out yet.

Kiersten, I said don’t climb out yet. You might slip on the wet floor and fall and bust your head.

Kiersten. I said BE STILL!

Now hold still so I can dry you off and get your pullup on. Do you need to try to potty first?

I’m too stressed out for bathtimes.

Would it be OK to put off baths unless they’re starting to stink up the house, d’ya think?

So you have decided that it is time to potty train your toddler, but where do you begin?

Dr. Greene has written some wonderful articles on potty training, and reading these are a good place to start. 

• Potty Training
• How and When Do I Potty Train?
• Successfully Mastering Toilet Training
• Learning To Poop in the Potty
• More Potty Training Articles

 The DrGreene.com community discussion boards are also a good source of information when it comes to potty training your toddler. Have a look at what worked for these moms, and feel free to post your own stories, solutions and help requests.

• The Long Road to Potty Training Success - My Story
• One…Two…Step….Step…. STOMP
• MorePotty Training Discussions

 Is your toddler already potty trained? Why not share your knowledge and expertise with parents who are walking the potty training road and struggling.

• How long should we let our 3 yr old sit on the potty w/no results when we are trying to pott train?
• Is potty training a 14 month old too early to start potty training??
• More Potty Training Questions

Have you read any good potty training books, or used any products that have helped you in the potty training progress? We would love to hear about them so we can share them on our Parent Picks blog. Just leave us a comment and we will be in touch with you.

In my mind romance cannot be forced, and should not be forced, it is a natural occurrence that happens in a relationship between two people who love each other. I also don’t think that romance is the same for everyone, as it should be, for every relationship is different.

When we look at our relationships if we are just seeing the black and white, then we are missing a whole lot of grey in between. It is often these grey tones that in future years will have the most meaning.

I find that rather than being disappointed that someone did not notice something I have done, or did not do something I expected… if I focus on the doing it just because I wanted to in the end it has more merit, even if it is from my own perspective.

In my own experience if I play a romantic scene in my head through to the completion I will often times be disappointed. If however I just set the stage with my efforts, the results are normally rewarding.

I have given up doing things for people because I think they are expected of me… I now do them because I want to. I have found over the years that this works the best for me in all areas of my life.

People can say that Valentine’s day is just another day on the calendar - one that is promoted in all the stores, and on most of the TV commercials…. for me it has become another day to make that extra effort to let Jamie know that I am happy he is in my life. Not because I have to… or because it is expected of me…. but because I want to…and when the calendar changes to February 16th I will still be making that same effort.

Maybe this has come with watching how fast the years have gone by, and with the realization that with each passing year Jamie and I are getting older…. perhaps the realization of my own mortality is kicking in to the point that I think or feel that if I don’t do it today, I might not have the opportunity to do it tomorrow.

Do you remember as a child laying in the grass on a hot summer day, gazing at the clouds overhead as they changed shapes to transform into a dragon, a butterfly, a bird, a castle in the sky?

Do you remember as a child playing dress up, where you would become the famous actor, a queen/king, dragon slayer, princess or other such character?

When my children were young, I would tell them “go outside and play”. They would often times grumble that there was nothing to do out there. I would simply smile and say “that’s ok, you can just go outside and walk around or go sit on a rock, but you still need to go outside”.

As I watched from the window, I would see them walk up the driveway, head down, as they kicked a rock in their path… and then they would kick the same rock again, and before long they would pick up the rock and examine it. Often times this same rock would end up balanced on the branch of a tree, or tucked safely into a pocket. They would do the same with sticks or other objects they came across. The rock balanced on the branch of a tree had become a nugget of gold, and the stick a horse… and soon they were absorbed in the world they were creating…. The world of childhood dreams, childhood magic. Before long their reluctance to going outside was replaced with, ”Awww do I have to come in now? I haven’t had any time to play!”

So what happens to us that we forget to play?

As adults we buy a lottery ticket, and think about all the things we will do with the money we win. Designing our dream homes, paying off our bills, thinking about how wonderful life will be. We look forward to special occasions, and think through the event from start to finish. What we will wear, what we will do, how the event will play out.

Day Dreams – Imagination - call it what you want, as adults it does seem to serve a purpose. It allows us to escape the stress of the moment, and gives us hope for the tomorrows. Fleeting thoughts that run through our brains give us a few minutes to catch our breath and continue on with our day.

However many times when we have these fleeting thoughts, we push them away, our day much too busy to explore them further, and later in a quieter moment when we try to revisit them, they are gone.

So as we encourage our children to “Go Play”, let’s not forget about ourselves in the process. We as adults also need to learn to “Go Play”

So my challenge for you is to Imagin(e) a Tion – think about it, talk about it, draw it, take a picture of it, post about it on your blog, post about it in your discussion boards, twitter it, facebook it… then leave a comment here letting me know where it is so I can go see.

Go Play and Show me your Tion!

Congratulations to Nicole McDonald, winner of the DrGreene Great Giveaway. Nicole your signed copy of Raising Baby Green is on the way!

Recently at the grocery store I overheard a comment that got me thinking.

“There is so much information out there about going green, it is almost like an information overload. “

I am sure like the person mentioned above there are many out there who feel this way. There are so many things that we can do, that the task seems overwhelming, and many times people will throw up their hands in frustration and say why bother? Some will give up before they have even started.

So my question to you is - If you were in a conversation with someone who has not yet taken the green step, but wanted to, what words of wisdom would you give to them? If you could list just one thing to that person which would help them get started, what would it be be?

There is only a short time left to get your vote in for Dr. Greene. The finals last from January 13-23. Don’t miss your chance to show your appreciation for all Dr. Greene does for each of us. Please vote today!

Just click here, and vote. (There is a check mark near the top of the page that you click — pretty obvious).

Don’t use twitter? You can sign up at Twitter.com and find out what the excitement is all about.

If you have been following along with my latest brain storm you will know that I have been on the hunt for a couple of words for a secret mission I am on. Well I am happy to inform you that the words have been found!

This time I have googled the words and there were no matches, zip, nada, not even one - I cannot even begin to tell you how hard it is to come up with words that no one has found a use for – take my word for it — it is not easy!

So as far as I know (and I know some of you will want to prove me wrong on this one) I am safe to run with Zoogidy Zop!

So now that you know my words are Zoogidy Zop, I will leave you to ponder them for a bit before I let you in on - or perhaps let you discover what they mean.

Stay Tuned!

The top five Green Twitters have moved on to the final voting round for a Shorty Award and DrGreene is in the finals.

We need your help! Just click here, and vote. (There is a check mark near the top of the page that you click — pretty obvious).

Thanks in advance for your support of DrGreene.  We really appreciate it!

Acka Backa — now are those not just the two coolest, most awesome words you have ever heard or in this case read?

I thought so to when they first popped into my head the other night. Right off the wall, totally creative genius, Truddle you are too good kind of thoughts swept through my brain as I quickly headed to facebook to type in my find and start the adventure.

Friends started to weigh in on the meaning… what was Truddle up to now – what purpose was to be found in these two silly words, the attention was at hand … and then it happened … Google popped the bubble I had formed around my two totally made up words. It turns out these two words are not my own. Google them, you will see. (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SUNA_enCA240CA240&q=Acka+Backa) “POP”

So here I am back to the drawing table, the beginning if you will… letting my brain ramble, sorting letters and putting them together to form the next set of coolest words. So far this has resulted in NADA!

But what are these cool words for? Is there a purpose or a reason behind them? Will they be the making of something, someone, somewhere? Well that part I cannot tell you – at least not yet. It is a top secret project I am working on, so top secret in fact that I am the only one that knows the detail of it. But I will let you in on the secret, or at least perhaps I will let you discover the secret for yourself but first I have to come up with two more words, so stay tuned for more on this dilemma in the coming days.