It's all about 'where' though.

Our son is two & a half- high time for some big boy pants, I say.

We’ve been talking to him about the potty for months now. We bought the potty seat.  We read Everyone Poops & discussed at great length. We let him “flush the poopies” from his diaper.

And we were making some slow progress.  He really liked talking about the potty at least. But the Potty Sticker Chart remained pretty bare, with two lonely stickers.

Over the holidays my mother-in-law shared with us her tried-and-true method- let him run around with no pants for a week.  He’ll be so uncomfortable with the idea of going into mid-air, he’ll want to use the potty.

Sounded shocking. We already think of our kids as being a bit feral. But she potty trained four kids, & none of them wet their pants (as far as I know, anyway).  And it would be so nice to cut back to one diaper-clad babe-in-arms.  Not to mention reducing our carbon footprint.

Desperate measures are called for.  So today we decided to give it a whirl.

It’s January, so we cranked up the heat and put him in a sweater & fleece, with socks.  Quite an outfit, I tell you.  The view got pretty weird at times.  We trailed him all day long, repeating, “Need to go yet? How about now?”

Kinda shocked, but it worked like a crazy.  He used the potty 4 times (both numbers.)  There was one minor accident (involving the seat of an unfortunate toy car.)  But all in all, a really encouraging start.

Tonight we put the diaper back on before bed.  He is already impatient with the bulky things. By the time we pick up some toddler underwear hopefully he’ll be ready for them.

In the meantime, I just hope he doesn’t become too attached to life in the buck.

-m

Nothing like a snow storm to make you feel like a kid.

There was a huge snow storm in Chicago today.  The kids bundled up & went out to build snowmen with friends. I found myself gazing at the storm wistfully, wishing we were out romping in the snow too.  So we took a lunch break & headed out.  We walked over to Grant Park & cross country skied right in downtown Chicago.

After all that fresh air & exercise, the whole family was wiped out.  The kids went to bed early & we got to eat a peaceful dinner & watch Battlestar Galactica re-runs.  These days, that passes for a pretty perfect night in.

If every day were like today, I could really get behind this winter thing.

-m

They've got to see this.

Forget the shoebox full of pictures. Digital scrapbooking will set you free.

When I was pregnant I pictured myself creating beautiful, elaborate scrapbooks chronicling every precious moment of my kids’ childhoods.  But as it turns out, I’m not much of a scrapbooker.  Maybe it’s all the years spent living in apartments.  Clutter just isn’t a great option when space is at a premium.  Or maybe I’m just lazy & enjoy getting 4 hours of sleep instead of 3.  So our answer is digital scrapbooking.

When our kids were born, we created an email account for each of them.  We email them on special occasions, or whenever we feel like sending them a little message.  Birthdays, we send a happy birthday message & attach a jpeg of their invitation.  When we send baby photos to family members (almost daily, I admit) we CC our kids. First steps, video clips of dance parties, Halloween costumes.  Or most often, we’ll just send an impromptu love note.

We also gave their email addresses to our family and close friends so that they can say hi when the mood strikes.

Every so often, we’ll check their email accounts.  It’s already so much fun to read about all the little moments we’ve had with our kids over the past two years.  It’s sort of like a photo album meets journal meets scrapbook.  I love to picture our son, 10 years from now, reading a note from his uncle on his 2nd birthday. Or our daughter watching a video of her first birthday cake.

…But enjoy checking that email while you can- I fully expect to be banished in a few years.

-m

Sloane Tanen feels me.

Wow.  My toddler called me out. I was having a glass of wine while reading him his bedtime story.  Taking advantage of a page-turn, I took a sip.  He looked at me, smiled & said, “Drink Mama’s juice!”  Mama’s Juice??  Hilarious.

We don’t have much chance to get out these days.  Between the kids and work, days are pretty long.  By the time they’re both in bed, our idea of a party usually involves dvr & pizza.  It’s funny how disappointed we are when Saturday Night Live is a repeat.  That’s where the glass of wine comes in.  It makes it feel like it’s the weekend.  Like I’m still a grown up, not just a mom.

It’s been a long day.  Fun but exhausting.  And I really enjoyed that glass of “Mama’s Juice.”

-m

“Goodnight Moon” photograph by Sloane Tanen via http://www.sloanetanen.com/

Welcome to the world, Mabel Ruth Sharp.  Big kiss!

Duck Duck Green has hatched.

We’ve done it – Duck Duck Green has officially launched!

Looking back on all the work & everything that’s happened, we’re excited to be where we’re at now – the beginning!

We thought up Duck Duck Green after we each had our first kids.  Both of our boys were asleep after their first Christmas. We sat up late, enjoying some (very rare) quiet time & sharing battle tales of pregnancy and labor.

In the midst of it, we realized being pregnant is hard enough without having to go on a scavenger hunt, looking for green alternatives for “the list” of baby necessities. We wished we could’ve just snapped our fingers and had it done…

Now, two years (& another baby each) later, ddg is here, and we plan to do everything we can to be that “finger snap” for new moms.

We love our jobs.  Going to work means looking out for the very best for our kids, & sharing stuff we love with our friends.  It means trying to figure out a way to do it all while helping the world & people around us.  And it means family – we now have a fantastic excuse to spend lots & lots of time together.

All of which to say, Duck Duck Green is a labor of love.

Welcome, from our family to yours,
-maryann & andrea

Seventh Generation has launched a really cute ‘virtual rally’ to bring attention to the issue of toxic chemicals in the home- The Million Baby Crawl to Washington. Cancer, infertility, obesity, asthma, learning disorders, early puberty, diabetes- all are on the rise in the U.S.  And all have been linked in recent studies to toxic chemicals.

Since 1976, the EPA has only required safety testing on 200 of the more than 80,000 chemicals on the market.  Seventh Generation is calling for a stronger chemical law to keep our families safe and healthy.  The proposed bill requires full information on the health and environmental hazards associated with all chemicals.

Want to help bring attention to the cause?  Create your own virtual tyke.  You can name your baby, choose their clothes & skin tone, and even upload a picture.  Then watch as your virtual crawler parachutes down and joins the march.  Or support our little Duck Duck Green crawler!  (Search for our baby, “DDG”.)

Join the crawl here:  http://www.seventhgeneration.com/million-baby-crawl/

For more information on Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families go to:  http://www.saferchemicals.org/

Happy crawling,
m & a

We're Moving!

After over a year as a home office start-up, Duck Duck Green has finally grown into its very own office space.  Our new home is an amazing turn of the century brick and timber loft/warehouse on the Chicago River.

The building used to be home to the Thomson & Taylor Spice Co.  Barges would come up the river, and unload coffee and spices directly into the T&T warehouse.  From what we could find, this area provided a lot of the spice and coffee for America back in the day, along with cloth, window blinds, and water-towers.  And the building across the street used to manufacture Model-T’s.  We got to ride in the freight elevator that the cars used to.  Really cool stuff (and big!)

The area is now an arts/creative industries zone, and we have some pretty cool neighbors we’re looking forward to knowing.

The building, the neighborhood, Chicago, we’re proud to be a part of a storied past.  We can’t wait for moving day!

-m & a

(Image from The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton.)

A new addition to the Duck Duck Green family, 12 hours old.

Congratulations, Andrea, on your beautiful new baby boy!  The world just got a little cuter.