Disposable or cloth diapers? Breastmilk or formula? Binky: yes or no? These are the questions parents waste time arguing about. There's only one real decision that matters, and it's something that you and your mate should settle before you even think of starting a family:
Is it "itsy-bitsy" spider or "eensy-weensy" spider?
Moi, I tend toward the latter. Now you know.
P.S. For the record, on the first three questions, I come down on the side of disposable diapers, breastmilk, and no binky.
Update 8/20/07: For some reason, this post attracts more spambots than usual, so I'm closing off comments. Feel free to email me if you want to make a (legitimate!) comment to this post.
How about the words to "Patty Cake?" I go through the whole thing with the roll it, pat it, mark it with a "B", etc. My husband thinks it's, "Patty Cake, patty cake, baker's man. Roll 'em up. Roll 'em up. Throw it in the pan!" His sounds more like a cheer at a high school football game.
Posted by: Erin | August 05, 2005 at 03:39 PM
Itsy-Bitsy, disposable, breastmilk, binky okay early on, bad later on.
Posted by: Mark | August 05, 2005 at 04:02 PM
It's 'Incy Wincy' in the UK.
There's even a wikipedia page on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsy_Bitsy_Spider
There's only one issue you missed - the dummy (pacifier?). I hate them with a passion. Fine for babies, but once your child starts to walk they are a no-no.
Says the lady with no kids ;-)
Posted by: Kirsty | August 05, 2005 at 04:18 PM
LOL! You're right, he's wrong -- sis-boom-bah!
Posted by: Karen | August 05, 2005 at 04:34 PM
Binky = Dummy
Posted by: Karen | August 05, 2005 at 04:35 PM
It's "itsy bitsy" in my book. And my daughter had her binkies (plural--always a spare in her hand) for longer than I care to admit with no ill effects. My son never wanted one, but he chewed on his blanket instead. It's not worth arguing about!
Posted by: Elena | August 05, 2005 at 09:34 PM
Disposable, breastmilk, NO binkies. Itsy-bitsy.
Posted by: susan | August 05, 2005 at 09:35 PM
In that one water spout song, I always sang it as the eensy weensy spider, so that's what I think. I did cloth diapers, Binky yes (over sucking fingers or thumbs) and I breast fed for a while.
Posted by: Margaret | August 06, 2005 at 02:18 AM
I'd never even heard it sung "eensy-weensy" until I saw the commercials for a CD box set of kids' music with children singing. It's just wrong.
Posted by: terrilynn | August 06, 2005 at 08:43 AM
itsy bitsy here
also, disposable diapers, breastmilk (although son #1 ended up on formula)and go figure, I WAS no binky (son #1 never had one) but the two breastfed kids had them, oh well!
Posted by: kathy | August 06, 2005 at 05:33 PM
Itsy-bitsy, breastmilk, nook (dummy, pacifier, binky), disposable (though we tried to do the environmentally correct thing and use cloth for a while). Regarding patty cake: roll it, pat it, mark it with a B, yes. And while we sang patty cake too, don't you think the more correct form would be "pat-a-cake"?
My kids were in diapers 10-15 years ago! This discussion takes me back.
Posted by: scott | August 06, 2005 at 06:03 PM
itsy bitsy, breastmilk until the suckers give it up then formula, binky (plug) for my daughter until 3 1/2 (fixed her under bite per the ortho) - other kid wouldn't take one. i wonder if itsy bitsy is a west coast thang.
Posted by: leah | August 07, 2005 at 05:01 AM
Itsy-bitsy, cloth for at least the first couple of years, breast, no binky.
Posted by: nina | August 08, 2005 at 01:20 AM
Why would anyone in their right mind use cloth diapers??!?
Posted by: Brooke | August 08, 2005 at 08:48 AM
"Itsy-Bitsy." No two ways about it.
Pacifiers? Loathsome, but at least you can, when the time comes, throw 'em away. The thumb, on the other hand, is attached.
Posted by: Elisson | August 09, 2005 at 06:58 AM
eensy weensy! (Canada) breastmilk, cloth for first year, then disposables... no pacifier (our family called it a "guy" pronounced with a hard gee (not jee)- I think it's French?)
Posted by: lisa | August 09, 2005 at 11:28 PM
We're certainly on the same page as far as those first questions go...but we don't see eye to eye on the spider thing ;-)
Posted by: Chris | August 11, 2005 at 10:23 AM
I never did weigh in on the cloth vs disposable diaper issue. We actually used cloth diapers with both our girls - the first, because we wanted to, the second because she was allergic to the plastic used in disposables.
There is no frickin' way I would ever use cloth, if I had to do it over.
And if you think you're doing the environment a big favor, think again. The net impact on the environment is lower for disposables: I speak as an engineer here. Washing those cloth diapers is not an environmentally friendly act. Because of the bacteria, you can't wash 'em with other stuff, and you need to heat up a lot of water and detergent - and then send it down the drain.
Posted by: Elisson | August 11, 2005 at 11:42 PM
I think it depends on where one lives -- Is water more of a concern or landfill? And in addition to the landfill problem, the petrochemicals used to make disposables are god-awful. But I used 'em, and would do so again.
Posted by: Karen | August 13, 2005 at 04:09 PM
Cloth diapers, safety pins, and rubber pants were used in this house for all 5 of our kids. Our youngest is now 8 years old. Cloth diapers are simply the best!
Posted by: Margaret | March 08, 2006 at 05:51 PM