The Squirminator

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Over the past year and a bit I’ve watched my girlfriends in my mothers group bring in their squirmy babies and wondered why on earth anyone would go back there and have another when they're just getting out of the completely dependent stage. Of course, the answer is simple. They’re an adorable, heartwarming and rather rewarding way to spend your time (*coughmoneycough*). Whilst I am quite obviously going for round two right now there are still days when I wonder if it will all come flooding back when Bobbin arrives, or if I'll have to re-learn everything again.

I've never been one to miss the stages as they go by. Whilst I join in on the "he doesn't look like a baby any more" post hair cut cooing, I am yet to actually lament "Oh my baby is growing up!", probably because my practical brain says "Duh, of COURSE he is, that's his JOB!". There are some stages I was rather fond to see the back of (hourly breastfeeding, anyone?) and one in particular tested my patience - the squirm stage. I say stage as if it ends. HAH!

I was not a fan of The Squirminator at all. What is a Squirminator? Think "I'll be (on my) back... then my front... then my side... then hanging from the nearest cupboard" and you'll get the picture.

The way I see it, there are four main options when it comes to drooling, wriggling, whingey Squirminators at change time:

1. Have a supply of gaffa tape* handy at your change table. Make sure to put it over baby’s clothes because getting that sticky residue off skin is a pain. Alternatively use Velcro* - it will be more expensive up front but you’ll get to reuse it.

2. Hire a children's entertainer to stand by the change table to distract the tiny Squirminator. That farm yard mobile they saw four times yesterday just isn't going to cut it today, you need variety. Think fairies, jugglers, pirates and more. But not clowns. That is how phobias are made.

3. Get some Huggies Nappy-Pants so you don’t have to worry about the laying down wriggle – the standing up Squirminator is so much easier to handle and without a change table you don't have to worry about your cherub launching themselves off it while you reach for a wipe.

We used modern cloth nappies for day use and Huggies nappies for night time but as Tricks was toilet training we moved him to Nappy-Pants for a transition period to get him used to the idea of pulling pants up and down. It worked for us because five days in to jocks and he was fully toilet trained and hasn’t looked back. We used them quite late, but they are available from 7kg upwards.

4. Grab a video camera. Look, they’re gonna squirm and it is annoying but chances are they're going to do something adorable and hilarious one of these times so why not film it and submit it to Huggies and win? If you have to put up with it, you may as well be rewarded!

The prizes are amazing - the first 500 people to upload their video receive a pack of Nappy-Pants and each week for nine weeks one entrant will receive a $100 Westfield gift card. But the major prize, the one I will give my left hand for (not the right, it’s my texting hand) is the grand prize, the big kahuna, the wood panelled, steel roofed, PlayCubb Koala Blue Cubby house, delivered and installed in your very own backyard, valued at just under $5000! Related: Tricks and I are available for play dates in said cubby.

And who gets to help decide who wins that awesome cubby? Yours truly! Yep, I'm one of the judges. Because it is about time I judged you and your spawn, right? RIGHT! I'm really looking forward to seeing your gorgeous kiddos do all sorts of hilarious bum shuffling wriggles and from the ones uploaded so far I know it's going to be a bloody tough decision!

For actual information on how to handle your wriggle bum that doesn’t involve gaffa tape or Velcro, you can check out the Huggies website and their tips via the Huggies Facebook page, but for now whip your cameras and get filming and show me ALL TEH CUTE!

*Please don’t do this. I know someone on the internet already did to prove it could be done, so let’s all just take their word for it!

Tinkle Tinkle

This weekend, because Cyclone Bianca decided to not show up, I was fortunate enough to be invited (along with 5 lucky blog readers) to one of UWA Extension's Baby Talk seminars run by Caroline Radford & Caroline McMahon of Caroline's Angels - and if you haven't figured it out already, it was about toilet training.

Now I can't tell you everything I learned because that wouldn't be fair, but I can tell you that I had no idea toilet training wasn't considered a developmental milestone. There is no specific age range that a child is supposed to get out of nappies - it's dependent on quite a few things, amongst them:

• a level of tactile awareness - you need to be able to tell when you're sitting in a wet patch
• hormonal development - a full bladder creates a hormone message to the brain
• an understanding of what just happened or is about to happen (in the nappy area)
• a way to communicate their understanding by either words or actions

Plus I found out that night dryness is a completely different kettle of fish to day dryness - night wetting isn't considered a problem by the leading health officials until the child is between 5-7 years old. I'm not talking the occasional puddle in bed, I mean having to wear nappies every single night.

Am I the only one who had no idea?

I'd highly recommend checking out the remainder of the Baby Talk seminars (there is even one on sleeeeeeep!) or if that's not your sorta thing then UWA Extension have classes on everything from investing to beer tasting (Map Guy is interested in that one) and dancing.

If you think you need more than a two hour session you can contact Caroline's Angels directly through their website. In the fifteen minutes I was chatting with them after the seminar I got some fantastic tips to help Tricky sleep better and... THEY WORKED! 

This is an unpaid review, however I did receive complimentary tickets to the Baby Talk series

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Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers Conference thanks to

HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro

Baby Talk - A Giveaway

I am a knowledge junkie. Books are my crack cocaine. I cannot get enough. But since Tricky was born I haven't really had much time to sit and read, so I've been feeling a little out of the learning loop. So when the lovely people at UWA Extension offered me free tickets to their 'Baby Talk' series I totally flipped! Blogging definitely has it's perks!

UWA Extension (the community arm of The University of Western Australia) have partnered with wonderful knowledge-buckets such as Jude Blereau (author of Wholefood for Children), Caroline Radford (of Caroline's Angels fame) and most recently Ngala to create some fantastic sessions covering everything from toilet training, toddler brain development, nutrition and sleep (precious, lovely sleep! I'll be paying extra attention at that one!).

On January 30th I'll be attending the toilet training seminar and I've got FIVE passes to give away valued at $49 each! 

At the seminar you'll learn the best ways to approach toilet training so that it's fun for kids and easier for you.

To be in the running to WIN one of these fab tickets and join me at the session you have to:

• Be a follower of Where's My Glow and
• Leave a comment telling me why you need help with toilet training your toddler! You can still enter if you have a younger baby, it'll help when you get to that stage!

To grab two extra entries you can tweet this comp (WIN tickets to a toilet training course thanks to @UWAextension and @Glowless http://bit.ly/g04iwo ) and share it on Facebook (WIN tickets to a toilet training course thanks to UWA Extension and @Where's My Glow http://bit.ly/g04iwo ). Leave a separate comment telling me you've done it.

If you win, you get to hang out with me - that alone should make you want to enter. Alternatively you can sit far away from me wearing dark glasses and a trench coat while I nerd it up in the front row taking notes.

If you need more convincing, check out the lovely things people had to say after the last session:

Well, its official, YOU ARE THE BEST!!! So THANK YOU....THANK YOU.....THANK YOU! Will be recommending your services once again to more people.

Michelle

Caroline has a lovely manner, a practical approach, excellent knowledge, great structure - very valuable and enjoyable session.

Justine P.

An outstanding presentation - thank you.

I feel I have greater confidence and knowledge to start the toilet training process when my daughter is ready. Thank you.

Great Course - very informative.

What a great initiative adopted by UWA!! We've used Caroline's Angels in the past and value their education, knowledge and advice, so to see the partnership with UWA is a great comfort to us 'mere' parents!

Michelle S 

Entry is open to WA residents only (unless you'd like to hop on a flight over?) and closes at 8pm AWST on 30th December 2010. Make sure you enter using a valid email address so that you can be contacted when you win! Good luck and I'll see you at UWA! 

For more information and to book your ticket for the Baby Talk series, check out the UWA Extension website or the Caroline's Angels website.


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