Data - it's all good.

mint.com is huge for this. I highly recommend.

nyc10023 - I am in same boat re post baby weight loss :) Good for you!!!! I have @ 7 lbs to go. On the other stuff, I don't track but then again since bb we never go out to eat and that was our biggest financial issue drain.

great article. i don't have enough time, energy, or resources to be as precise, rigid, or efficient as i would like to be (although maybe if i recorded my behaviors i could tweak some things here and there).

- i've been waiting about 6 months for the fitbit to come out. maybe it is now, haven't checked in about a month.

- currently, i manually record my 5 month olds sleeping and eating patterns b/c i'm in the middle of sleep training her.

- for my 23 month old, on a daily basis i obsessively mentally track 1) how many servings of veggies she's consumed (2 is a really good day), 2) how many minutes of t.v she watches, and 3) how verbal she is compared to her peers. i would LOVE the LENA monitor, but i can tell you that i don't engage her one-on-one as much as i would like to each day. *sigh*

- pre-partner,i tracked all of my expenses. now, its sufficient to know that there's enough in the account at any given time.

oh, and as far as real estate is concerned, we all know there are people on streeteasy who follow the data/trends pretty hard. i find if you follow those followers, you can learn quite a bit.

for my 23 month old, on a daily basis i obsessively mentally track 1) how many servings of veggies she's consumed (2 is a really good day), 2) how many minutes of t.v she watches, and 3) how verbal she is compared to her peers. i would LOVE the LENA monitor, but i can tell you that i don't engage her one-on-one as much as i would like to each day.

wow - you really are an uwsmom

imagine what i would be capable if i weren't spread so thin

^capable of

wow - I just looked up what a LENA monitor is. I'm scared to think of how many have actually been purchased

btw printer - "obsessively mentally tracking" is just another way of saying "being very mindful of". that's not a bad thing in my book.

don't mistake my tone - not trying to be snarky at all - just thought it was funny that your moniker is so spot on.

uwsmom, doesn't seem obsessive to me. I've seen spreadsheets and line graphs for bowel movements :)

obsessions are fine, in my book, as long as they bring happiness rather than anxiety. order rather than chaos. decision rather than indecision. and so on.

JM, were those spreadsheets attached with a magnetic banana to your fridge?

funny - i was just talking to a first time mom yesterday and i was telling her about a notebook i found when we moved last summer that contained detailed data of my first daughter's feedings and bowel movements (frequency, color, consistency, etc).

but spreadsheets and line graphs are VERY impressive!

ar - the chaos is naturally occurring with 2 under 2. i try my damndest to impose structure and order on a regular basis (hence, the sleep training).

"obsessions are fine, in my book, as long as they bring happiness rather than anxiety. order rather than chaos. decision rather than indecision. and so on."

All fine and good for yourself, but I feel for the kids with the neurotic parents.

amended, less chaos rather than more chaos.

2 under 2. inconceivable to me. and i know the meaning of the word.

"JM, were those spreadsheets attached with a magnetic banana to your fridge?"

How did you know about my magnetic banana? It used to stick to everything until my wife made me put it away for special occasions.

JM, you didn't disappoint. thanks for catching the ball, i mean banana.

"but spreadsheets and line graphs are VERY impressive!"

to be fair it was a friend with twins, but I will admit to the notebook with (frequency, color, consistency, etc).

swe, neuroses tend to be genetic. and i'd suggest you look in the mirror.

btw, OCD is extremely common in people of high IQ, and comes with a huge spectrum of symptoms, some relatively useful, some extraordinarily harmful. it's how you deal with OCD that determines whether it ruins your life and the life of those around you. if making spreadsheets about BMs is fun for you, rather than not, it is not likely to hurt your offspring to have a crazy parent record some shit, so to speak. if it drives you crazy, it will likely drive the little one crazy too.

i like my OCD. and my kid has OCD too, and it helps her to thrive. she is happy, and she LOVES making lists. so be it.

"All fine and good for yourself, but I feel for the kids with the neurotic parents"

most infants and toddlers crave structure in their day - they do much better when on a schedule, not to mention that it makes parenting much easier and therefore you are more relaxed and attentive when with them. obviously you can't be too crazy about it.

it is odd that on the one hand you complain about kids who aren't disciplined, and then complain about parents who impose some discipline. it is a fine and tough balancing act, for sure. and you'll veer one way or the other at points, but you do your best.