Photo by Bethany L King

Although we are – THANK GOD – past this stage at our house, some of you might be thinking about starting potty training or maybe are in the middle of it right now and if you are Latina, you might be able to relate to the following story. Besides, I’ll be going through it all over again soon, as I am four months pregnant with my second child!! So, I figured this is as good a time as any to reminisce about how it all used to be and remind myself of how it all will be in the not-too-far away future. Once you’re done reading this, I’ll tell you one HUGE reason why holding off potty training for another month is a good idea…besides pissing your mothers off

That was then…

I don’t know if this is some kind of Latina thing or what. A little while before my daughter’s first birthday, my mother started her daily reminders of how by the time her kids turned uno, “ya no usaban pañales.” How did she do that? I have no idea, but it should suffice to say that she had the help of a full-time nanny who lived with us!

Anyhow, this is the way my mother greets me on a pretty regular basis:

- “¿La sentaste?” (meaning, did you sit her on the potty chair?)

I ignore her.

- “You have to follow her around with the basenica,” she continues con la misma cantaleta. Actually, the correct spelling is basinica, my mother’s name for potty chair, but she doesn’t like to say it like that.

I ignore her.

“Ya va a cumplir DOS años,” she says almost embarrassed that she’s almost two and still wears diapers, ¡ni que fuera SU hija!

Since I’m ignoring her, she decides to talk directly to Vanessa.

- “This summer, you’ll be out of diapers.” Vanessa just looks at her and smiles.

I stop ignoring her and start attacking her.

- “Claro, since you’ll be the one taking care of that…” I let her have it as I roll my eyes.

It kills me when my mom does this to me. She makes me feel crappy, like I’m not putting enough effort into helping my daughter – who understands every single thing she hears even when you’re not talking to her – use panties once and for all. In fact, nothing would make me happier!

I hate this task, especially because rare is the time when Vanessa actually allows me to change her diaper without making it a wrestling match – which unbelievably, I almost always end up losing. I’ve ran out of things to say or do to distract her to avoid smearing poop all over the place. In fact, I actually dread the moment I have to change her diaper! So, it should be obvious, that no one would want her to make the transition more than I. But truth be told, it is not that easy. Yet, definitely de éste verano no pasa. It will happen before the summer is over.

Unfortunately, everything points to failure. We’ve actually gone back backwards in the process. When I bought the potty and I started teaching Vanessa what it was about, everything was going viento en popa. In fact, I was blown away with how quickly she learned to say “caca” when she wanted to poop and we’d go sit on the potty and for the most part, things actually came out fine, pardon the pun. These days, she doesn’t say a word to me and if I happen to notice she wants to go “caca,” just the mere mention of the word, makes her run away screaming “nooooooo.” ¡Qué exagerada!

I think what set us back has been the rotten weather. It’s cold and the majority of our house is carpeted, so the idea of leaving Vanessa roam naked so she can understand what’s happening – like some have suggested – doesn’t really appeal to me. Totalmente asqueroso, ¿no creen? Whatever… the point is that now that the summer is almost here, I’m going to take heed, but only when we’re in the kitchen or family room which have hardwood floors.

In the  meantime, I’ll have to continue putting up with my mother’s cantaleta:

- “Ya no la sientas, ¿no?” she asks in defeat when she comes through the door. Not even a ‘hello.’ – “Of course I do,” I lie entre dientes.

Am I the only one going through this?

This is now…

I’m happy to report that Vanessa has actually been off diapers for almost 6 months, although not completely. She still wears them at night and now that I know what Unicef and Pampers are doing, I’m in no rush to change that (and you shouldn’t either, at least until the campaign ends on May 1, 2009). I hope you feel the same once you find out what their “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign is all about.

Pampers and acclaimed Latina actress Salma Hayek have joined forces with Unicef to help protect mothers and their newborns against tetanus in less-industrialized countries.

Your part in the equation? It’s actually pretty simple because just by buying a specially-marked pack of Pampers diapers or wipes, you could be saving someone’s life. Each qualified product purchased means one life-saving vaccine.

The numbers are staggering. Did you know that maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), a preventable disease, claims the lives of approximately 128,000 infants and up to 30,000 mothers in less industrialized nations each year? That amounts to  one newborn death every four minutes. The key word here? Preventable. So, lets do our part.

SpanglishBaby strongly supports this campaign and we’re urging all our readers to do the same by either purchasing these products or spreading the word – or both!

To help get you started, Pampers has put together a set of four (4) “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign onesies as well as a coupon for a specially-marked pack of diapers which we’ll be giving away to one lucky winner.

How to win:

Leave us a comment telling us your funny potty-training story or, if you haven’t gone through that rite of passage yet, what you dread about the thought of it.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

This giveaway ends at midnight EST on Sunday, April 12th. Good luck to all!

Photo by moi

Playgroups. We’ve mentioned them in prior posts, the Multilingual Children’s Association recommends it as do our experts. Plus, the truth is they’re really fun. In an effort to show you just how important they really are, I’ve decided to use the playgroup Vanessa and I belong to as case study. I hope you enjoy reading about it…

I don’t even remember how I found it or why I even started looking for it. The truth is I wasn’t making a conscious effort to find one; I hadn’t really thought about the benefits both Vanessa and I would be able to reap from belonging to one. I just remember searching online for a playgroup and being extremely surprised to find one called: Bilingual Tots–in Denver! The best part was that it had just formed, so when I joined, I was just in time for their introductory meet-up. That was last summer, and now I don’t know how I would do without it.

“I wanted my children and I to have bilingual friends because the more people we could speak with in Spanish the more important the language would be to them,” says AnaGloria Rodriguez, the organizer of Bilingual Tots, when I asked her why she started the playgroup. “I also love learning about other cultures and wanted us to learn more about other Latino cultures because I want my children to be proud of who they are. Basically, I was trying to form an extended family group for us.”

A source of support and encouragement…

It hasn’t even been a year since that first meeting and Bilingual Tots already has close to 50 members. And, though the truth is that not all of them attend regular meet-ups, I’d say there are at least a dozen of us who participate as much as possible. So we’ve had an opportunity to develop friendly relationships not only at the adult level, but our kiddies, too!

“I am overcome with emotion when I think about how successful this group has become,” adds AnaGloria. ‘It is wonderful how some of us have connected and gotten to know one another. I know that my children feel the love of the group.”

To see that love for your self, all you have to do is look at the picture above of AnaGloria’s daughter, Penelope, and my own child, Vanessa. It’s truly great to hear Penny say, “Hola, Vanessa” as she walks over to give her a hug as soon as we arrive at the park or the museum or wherever we’re meeting.

“I recently read somewhere that children will speak the language of the people they love. So I figure the more people my children have to love who speak Spanish, the more likely they are to stick with it,” adds AnaGloria.

For Lili Strachan, mother of three boys, and recent transplant to Colorado from Scotland, Bilingual Tots has given her and her children an opportunity to make Spanish-speaking friends in their new home. But, as she explains, the playgroup means a lot more than that.

“The true benefit is being able to exchange ideas with the other mothers about bilingualism,” says Lili, who grew up in Florida and whose parents are Colombian. “In addition, I am learning about customs and words from the other mothers that are from many different countries.”

And that’s what I truly like the most about our playgroup, its diversity. Everyone’s in the same boat, but for different reasons and using different methods.

Maybe these tips can help:

Ok, enough boasting, so how can you get started? Here are some tips:

• First of all, check online to see if a playgroup like ours or similar already exists in your area. Chances are, it does.
• If not, and you’re willing to be the organizer of one, the best place to go–according to AnaGloria–is meetup.com. It’s not free, but it works wonders. Getting groups with similar likes, needs or hobbies together is the reason they’re in business. You can also create a Yahoo! group for free.
• You have to be willing to host the first few meetings until your playgroup gets more members and you can start to rotate. Hosting a playgroup doesn’t have to be a huge deal. On the contrary, simple is better, especially for the kids. When we meet at someone’s home, we normally do a potluck and it always turns out awesome!
• In terms of activities, again, keep it simple! We’ve just started implementing circle time and we sing a few songs in Spanish and will soon start reading a simple book to the kids. But more often than not, we just let them be. Nothing’s better than free play in Spanish!
• If your group starts getting big, think about other places where you can meet other than someone’s home. Community centers, your local church, libraries or bookstores with children’s sections are all possibilities. Just call and ask. When the weather is nice–as is often the case in Colorado, even in winter–we meet at a park for a picnic. The kids love it!

To sign-off, I’ll let my friend and fellow Bilingual Tot member, Lili, tell all of you how important she thinks playgroups really are when raising bilingual kids:

“I personally think that it is not a choice, but a requirement. I truly feel that you MUST maximize your child’s opportunities to be around Spanish-speaking adults and children. Plus IT’S FUN!”

If you belong to a playgroup or you’re thinking about starting one yourself, we’d love to hear your story. Or, if you have any other tips or anything you want to share that would be helpful to others, please feel free to do so!