The Potty List!

2. Baked a cake

We've all heard of the "Bucket List", ambitions to do before we die. Mostly, if you're on twitter, linked to the name of a seriously ill child who didn't actually want to trend on twitter anyway.  But there's something better than that.  I'm talking about the "Potty List".  This made the papers a couple of weeks back, but we were at the in-laws and I didn't get to read the whole thing til now.

4. Sung loudly in public

The Potty List is a list of 36 "Things to do before you're 3", one for each month of a toddler's life (though they're not necessarily going to do them at that rate).  It's all about the milestones of growing up, and the fun to be had along the way.  How many has your child done? And how many have you done yourself?  We've tried to work out how many we've achieved, and how many we've taken photos of.  (Don't panic, there's no picture of number 24!)

8. Made sandcastles on the beach

The 36 must-do activities that make up ‘The Potty List’ are:

1. Made a mud pie

2. Baked a cake

3. Finger painted

4. Sung loudly in public

5. Climbed a big hill 

6. Picked fruit

7. Danced with no inhibitions 

8. Made sandcastles on the beach

9. Been chased by a monster

15. Chosen a favourite book

10. Jumped in a puddle so hard the water went in mummy’s shoe too

11. Belly-flopped

12. Fed the ducks

13. Blown bubbles
14. Had a teddy bear’s picnic
15. Chosen a favourite book
16. Ridden on the top of double-decker bus
17. Visited a museum
18. Been on a train ride
19. Fed an animal
20. Grown cress in the shape of your name

21. Worn pants on your head

22. Ridden the tea-cups at the fair
23. Flown a paper aeroplane

24. Poo’ed in the bath

25. Stayed the night away from home
26. Ridden on daddy’s shoulders
27. Scribbled somewhere you shouldn’t
28. Cleaned your own teeth
29. Answered the phone
30. Mastered a party piece
31. Had a ‘first love’
32. Bought something in a shop
33. Set your sights on a future career (pirate, fairy or builder, perhaps?)

18. Been on a train ride

34. Told a fib

35. Made up an inappropriate nickname for someone
36. Broken something valuable

We've actually managed many more than the ones pictured, I can't find the teacups, I think that's probably just on video (I was on them too, so couldn't take photos), and you just don't think to take pictures of everything - buses, puddles and poo in particular!  It's inspired me though to take more photos of those everyday occurrences that will make up our memories, the little firsts.

The Potty List was inspired by suggestions from parents nationwide and endorsed by experts, including nutritionist Amanda Ursell, psychologist Dr Richard Woolfson and trends forecaster Sean Pillot de Chenecey.

It forms part of the Little One-ders’ Toddler Census, commissioned by Growingupmilkinfo.com, and has been designed to celebrate the extraordinary growth and development Little One-ders go through from one to three years.

19. Fed an animal

By no means exhaustive, it does however pinpoint some wonderful experiences for toddlers, from the fun to the fundamental.

Child psychologist Dr Richard Woolfson says: “As your toddler turns one and becomes a Little One-der their extraordinary growth over the next couple of years will amaze you. Toddlerhood is about learning, about development and about progress – it's also about pushing the boundaries a little.

27. Scribbled somewhere you shouldn't

“A growing child needs to be loved and to be happy, but fun activities play an essential part during the toddler years too, as now is the time they will master many of the skills that will set them up for life. Making a mud pie or jumping in a puddle has never been so important!"

Achieving all these ambitions, alongside all the growing and learning that takes place in the first three years of life takes an awful lot of energy.  Growingupmilkinfo.com nutritionist, Leanne Olivier, adds: “During this phase of amazing growth and development, relative to their size, toddlers’ energy needs are nearly three times greater than an adult’s. They require more than four times the amount of iron and vitamin C, plus about three times the calcium, zinc and vitamin A.

“Their stomachs are a lot smaller than ours, so they need to eat small amounts of foods often to give them energy and nutrients throughout the day, so they can make mud pies and climb hills.

“This means that they need three small meals with regular snacks in between to meet their very specific energy needs and each meal and snack needs to be balanced and nutrient-packed.” 

Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk are sponsoring me to attend the CybHer conference in May 2012.  The statistical data in this post came from The Toddler Census, a questionnaire answered by over 1000 parents in July 2011.

Becoming a Mumtor

First things first... what's a Mumtor? I can see you looking a bit confused at the screen.  Well, Mumtors are Cow & Gate's Growing Up Milk Mummy Mentors.  As that's a bit of a mouthful, they took the "Mummy" and the "Mentor", mixed them up, and came up with "Mumtor".  And that's me (and a whole host of other people).

I really thought long & hard about teaming up with Cow & Gate when they asked mums to apply to be Mumtors.  I breastfed Squeaky until she was about 17 months old.  When she reached her first birthday, I started to include some formula feeds, because I knew I'd be going back to work at some point, and it meant I could wean her off me at my own pace, rather than needing to do it quickly.  And as she's a finicky creature with her food, I wanted to give her something more than cow's milk to replace the nutrients she'd been getting from me.

I'm a breastfeeding peer supporter with my local Health Board, so it might seem a bit of cross-purposes to be a Mumtor as well. But really, it's all about supporting mums through some difficult decisions, giving them the information to make their own choices in the best interests of their child.  Heck, if anything, the fact I've both breast and formula fed Squeaky means I'm not going to judge anyone, or tell them they've got to do any one thing.

Breastfeeding is bloody hard work, there's no other way to put it.  The decision to move on to toddle milk is a hard one.  Choosing the right one for you & your child is a case of trial and error.  Cow & Gate is the one that works for our family, and the one Squeaky enjoys.  So after a lot of thought, I applied to Cow & Gate to become a Mumtor, and was delighted when they chose me.  I've got a whole host of information they've sent me, results from The Toddler Census which was carried out last year, so watch out for more informative posts.

Don't worry, I'm not going to become one giant advert, I'm still me.  And I'm not going to force Growing Up Milk down your throats, either literally or figuratively.  But if you see me about in the Real Live World, have a word, I may well have a sample for you!

Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk are sponsoring me to attend the CybHer conference in May 2012.