Before you say it, I’ll say it first: No, there’s no way I am going toilet paper-less like No Impact Man. And I’m not going to get my husband to give up his Bounty paper towels, either. (I actually have to buy two sets of towels because my husband refuses to use my Seventh Generation or Marcal Small Steps paper towels.) But there’s plenty I can do here in the house to reduce the amount of paper products that go into the garbage. For example, I have a stainless steel kitchen. Cleaning it requires special cleansers — I use Method’s Steel for Real spray — and, in the past, lots of paper towels. But starting this month, however, I have made the switch over to a washable microfiber cloth. It sits under the counter on top of the spray. It isn’t the Method Stainless Steel microfiber cloth, which I didn’t know existed until I had to provide the last link, but it works pretty well. I also have a microfiber cloth for my wood as well as another for general cleaning. Seems to be doing the job.

Another change: Making sure there are plenty of hand towels lying around the kitchen. Wash cloths, too. The baby is constantly dirty, and it’s nice to be able to use a wash cloth on her face rather than grabbing a paper towel. Likewise, I’m teaching my big girl to reach for the hand towel instead of the paper towel when her hands are dirty or need drying.

The bathroom is a little tougher. Aside from buying recycled toilet paper, there’s not much I can do. Sure, I can try and use fewer squares, which I am doing but short of installing a bidet, how can I cut down on toilet tissue use? Yes, I am asking. Feel free to post any suggestions. I considered using a squirt bottle and air drying, but who has time for that? (And I’m sorry for giving you that visual.) This is definitely a tough one, but I’m hoping doing little things like avoiding using toilet paper for picking up hair out of the shower drain or using cloth instead of paper to wipe toothpaste off the counter will add up.

The final paper-related (well, it’s actually wood pulp fluff) product reduction…this is a huge one: We’ve got Little Girl day potty trained! Undies all day. Diapers for naps — which she often keeps dry so I reuse –  and at night. Talk about saving the environment! And for those who wonder how I did it: I just took the diapers away and stuck with it. You have to expect accidents. You have to tote your potty with you everywhere you go. But once the kid gets the idea, you’re home free.

So all in all my February changes are pretty good, I think. Wait until you see my March changes. I hope I have the guts to go through with them and post about them. I seem to have no shame and no Internet filter, so I’m thinking I will.

What changes have you made lately to green your house and life? I love reading about what other people do. Inspires me and the other folks who read this blog!

We got downstairs at 8:45. We had breakfast. We sang songs. We also ran back and forth between the kitchen and the bathroom a lot. “Mommy, potty, potty,” Keira would say. I’d put her on the toilet. She’d sit. She’d get the scared look on her face. She’d jump off. By 10:30 I figured something had to give soon. Keira desperately wanted to use the toilet, but was so scared she couldn’t let go. I didn’t know what to do, so we stuck with it. Finally, at around 11:30 she did it. She peed in the toilet, crying hysterically while she went. Once she was done, she was all smiles. “Potty, potty! Hooray,” she screamed. We did the potty dance. She got stickers. She got an apple. And soon after my husband came home, put a diaper on her, and took both girls to the park. All the morning’s hard work and tears were forgotten. Keira didn’t ask to use the potty while she was out, although she still told my husband every time she peed in the diaper, he said.

I am very torn about this whole process. Keira is obviously physically ready. She was able to keep from having an accident all morning, and she knew she had to go even if she wasn’t sure whether she actually wanted to. So where do I go from here? I don’t want the kid crying on the potty, but I also don’t want to miss my window. Last week she told me she had to go while we were out on a restaurant playdate. I took her into the bathroom. She sat down, went right away — not a tear in sight. Today, it was like she was having a small nervous breakdown. At 16-months-old.

During all the morning drama I found myself thanking Katelyn. For what, she wanted to know. For making it easy for me. There was no process with Katelyn. Once she told me, at 15-months, that she was going to use the bathroom, there was no looking back. There were no tears. There was no hesitation.

But that was another child and another time. Today I have to make a decision. Do I continue the training in the hopes that Keira will get over her fear? Do I forget about it for now? What do I do if she’s begging me to go potty — like she does almost every day? Do I tell her no? Potty experts (if you’ve survived potty training even one kid, you’re an expert): What would you do?

Little Girl, who is 16-months-old, kept telling me, “Poop, Mommy, poop!” My older daughter, who asked me to “sit toilet” at 15 months, was fully day trained by 22 months, so I figured I’d better listen to her. Little Girl has asked me to try the potty before. She’s even succeeded a few times, but I didn’t take her seriously until now because she’s been inconsistent. Wanting the potty sometimes, being afraid of it at others. However, this time (crossing fingers) I think it might be the real thing.

For about a week she’s been telling me when she is going in her diaper. She tells me she wants to be changed, too. “Mommy, di-pa dirt. Poop.” She wants to wear underwear like her sister. And so we went in and out of the bathroom about 15 times on Sunday. She didn’t go, but she was awfully proud of herself, and I’m going to keep trying as long as she keeps asking.

You might think I am insane. If you go by what’s typical, you might be right. American kids, say researchers, toilet train on average at the age of three. Babies in other countries, however, toilet train much, much earlier. More than half of babies in other countries are trained by age one, according to a 2004 Modern Pediatrics story. American kids weren’t always so behind, says the magazine, which is a peer-reviewed journal for pediatricians. Between 1920 and 1940 American kids were right there with the rest of the world. The average age for training was 12 months. That changed between 1940 and 1960 when the average age was 18 months. Babies born between 1960 and 1980 were, on average, trained by 2. Once disposables, which keep babies clean and dry, became commonplace, the age shot up to two-and-a-half and then three.

My mom swears I was trained by 18 months. (A baby of the 1970s, I was ahead of my time.) The tide here in the U.S. might be changing, though, and you can thank the economy, according to an August Associate Press story, which was blogged about by Lisa Belkin of The New York Times. Diapers — training pants, especially — aren’t cheap, so some parents are forgoing using them. Makes sense. One of the main reasons that I was thrilled when Big Girl and now Little Girl (aside from the fact that I really, really hate throwing more garbage in a landfill even if that garbage is environmentally friendlier than other options) is that I am cheap. I also know, based on research, that kids who start training after 30 months may see potty training as a control thing, and may have issues with stool holding.

Even so, I am not doing this to save money. I’m doing it because that’s what the experts suggest. According to the Contemporary Pediatrics story, which was written by an M.D. to advise other doctors looking to advise their patients: “If someone advises a parent not to begin toilet training before 3 years (or some other arbitrary age) or to wait for the child to train herself, help the parent understand readiness training. If a child shows interest in this process, the window of opportunity should not be ignored.” That’s why, looking ahead, I anticipate spending lots of time in the bathroom. Little Girl is asking, and I’m paying attention. We’ve got our Elmo seat out — the one that fits onto the downstairs toilet seat. We’ve also got our super deluxe potty seat out. (The one that fits on the toilet upstairs.) We’ve been talking about the potty. We’ve been encouraging her interest by building up the experience. Big girls get to wear underwear. They get Elmo stickers. They get hip-hip-hurrays. Will Little Girl be another Big Girl? I don’t know. I hope so. In the meantime, unlike the villagers in Aesop’s fable, I’m going to keep running when my little one cries “poop.” I’ll keep you posted…

There are people who swear that their kids are potty trained as infants. Others who refuse to potty train until the kid asks even if that means sending their child to nursery school in diapers. Which camp do you fall into? What’s your favorite potty training trick? I’d love to hear about it.