The Honest Company

You haven't seen my face light up until you've seen a courier truck pull up to my house with a big blue box (and I know it's the Honest Company.) Okay, maybe you have if you've ever watched the Leafs win with me, or offered me a mug of chai.

It must have been over two years ago, maybe two and a half, that I got wind of a new venture Jessica Alba (yes, the celebrity) was beginning. She was already quite active in our little "eco-friendly moms" community, and with her talent and prominent position she was able to start her own line of diapers and wipes free of nasty chemicals and toxins. Along with the co-founder, Chris, the ensured that every product was kid-friendly and planet-friendly, but also affordable and super cute in design. As the company has grown (to training pants, cleaning products, beauty products and natural supplements) they have stayed committed to Earth-saving initiatives like recycling and ethical sourcing as well as philanthropic venues like donation to charity.

Oh and did I mention you can get their products for free?

Go to THIS LINK right now and you can have your first box sent to you at no charge (just shipping - it's like $6...) After that you'll be hooked. You can either choose a few things that you need or get bundles so that fresh new packs of diapers and wipes, and/or cleaning products, will arrive at your door monthly. (You can share in my joy of the big blue box.)

Here's a sampling of what we enjoyed this week. From left to right:

We use the Stain Remover spray both for clothes (hello, four month old baby...) and around the house (yes, our hockey games in the basement often lead to bleeding...) and it removes the stain and the odour. Love it. It's nice to have something safe for furniture and fabric that's effective and non-toxic. How gross is it to spray chemicals on your couch and then never wash them off? That stays here and you inhale it for weeks after. No fun.

The 4-in-1 laundry pods just go straight into the main "drum" of the washer and smell so good. We don't use any bleach or softener in addition to them. And we have pitch-white sheets on our bed so...

A little sampler pack there - some body wash, hand soap, moisturizer, all purpose spray and healing balm. These are amazing to throw in a purse.

We also got a pack of travel wipes.

Lastly, some cute size 2 diapers for Dakota and Oliver's first pack of training pants. He uses the toilet now like a champ but I still get nervous when he's in the car seat, in church, etc. He are easy up, easy down like underwear. He loves them.

Here's my big boy's booty all decked out in robots and fire trucks.

Here's my dolly's flower print diapers. My favourite are the cherries - I can't even bear to let her wear them!

For more info click the icon below.

My Toilet Training Tricks

Oh -- is this my first blog title with an alliteration? I must tell you, I'm totally tickled by the thought of it!

Here is the disclaimer: I write this post on "toilet training tricks" as a mom whose only son is still in diapers. So... I'm not an expert. But consider this: Oliver (age 1) knows when he needs to go to the bathroom, tells me, then uses it. Sometimes he's late or he is busy and then tells me after that he needs a new diaper, but... pretty good right? Some of his favourite words are "poop", "pee-pee", "potty" and "bum". He also adores waving good-bye to his pee and poo.

So my tips are these:

1. Figure out a spoken word, or a sign, for when your child pees and poops. They need to be able to notify you that it's time to go. They can't learn this early to go to the toilet and pull their own pants and diaper down.

2. Give them a non-candy reward. I absolutely refuse to go the way of Smarties for Oliver's toilet journey. We use 2 rewards: He gets to flush the toilet after (SO! FUN!) and he can call a family member, or tell someone who is at the house in person, that he pooped or peed. He loves this. We get my dad on speaker phone and he's like "BAPA! PEEPEE!" squealing and smiling like, well, a kid in a candy store.

And the final, and most important trick,

3. Make sure they can feel that they're wet/dirty. Modern disposable diapers pull all the wetness away from your child's skin so they aren't uncomfortable or at risk of a rash, however when you're beginning the toilet journey they are ready to feel that something yucky is in their diaper. We use Kushie's Organic flat diapers, which we fold ourselves and pin with a "Snappi". Snappis are amazing, it's like a pin without a pin -- you just clip it to one side, the other side, and then the bottom, and your flat cloth diaper will stay on. Ours is pretty thin so Ollie can feel it right away. We take care of the cloth diaper, sit him on the toilet, and get him to try again. If he goes, he flushes and is happy. If not, we simply leave and that's okay. Then we put on a fresh diaper. People typically use these thin flats with a cover, but if we're just playing in the backyard, he wears only that. I wouldn't recommend it for overnight.

Here's a video I made about how to use a cloth diaper with a Snappi: