Early brain development, our date-night check-in & what it means when your toddler says 'um'

Welcome back to another episode of Two Parents & A Podcast — it's FRIDAY (and yes, as promised, Harrison has brought his Friday energy!!!). For our listeners who like a parent-heavy episode more than Harrison — this one is for you!! (lol) OK so - did you know 90% of your adult brain develops between 0 & 5?! WE DIDN’T! So we dug into a few child development topics on this episode: First… your toddler saying "um" isn't rude (side note: is it rude for adults to say um?!), it's actually an important development milestone. Other interesting things: babies who swim actually DEVELOP FASTER (better coordination, balance & body control, and they walk faster too!) and why kids in the 0-5 range absorb language SO much easier than we do as adults (it's a brain state thing called theta and it's genuinely fascinating). Since that was “too much parenting talk” for Harrison, we did one of our date night check-ins live on the pod (ok guys, this is Jules now — would you imagine their date night convo has much to do with kids?? and when they said "kids aside," the updates also primarily revolved around parenting LOL. But no, we get a really good Flock update and a feeding journey update from Alex in this section). Other stuff: West & Jesse are friends again?, PSA on why you should never put your kid in a blue bathing suit (safety!!), Siete is (kind of) changing their ingredients after being acquired by Pepsi, there's a LIZARD in our house, and Harrison is still on that book club is just girls night in disguise. OH and Ginny made her pod debut!!  LOVE YOU GUYS! Timestamps:  00:00:00 Welcome back to Two Parents & A Podcast! 00:02:22 SKIP IF YOU HATE FUN: West soft launches friendship with Jesse 00:05:28 The “WOW, that was louder than I thought” neighbor gift  00:08:25 Why are “dad injuries” so embarrassing?!  00:11:05 Toddlers saying "um" is a developmental milestone?! 00:18:20 PSA: NEVER put your kid in a blue bathing suit  00:19:00 Babies who swim actually DEVELOP FASTER (new study!) 00:20:05 90% of your adult brain develops between 0 & 5  00:23:34 Being away from your kids for even ONE night feels like too much 00:25:09 The viral "normalize telling your kid they're not special" video debate 00:31:40 Siete was bought by PEPSI (& the misleading headline about their ingredients!) 00:38:23 UNHINGED mom hacks: tooth quality tooth fairy, a wig for hair-holding & more 00:43:15 Harrison still wants everyone to know that book club in girls night in disguise  00:49:00 MID-EPISODE CHECK IN: health, work, friends, postpartum & more  01:03:30 We had a LIZARD in our house last night?! 01:04:28 ”Minnesota nice" is a real thing?!  01:06:45 LOVE YOU GUYS! #twoparentsandapod -------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you to our sponsors this week: *Ollie: Ollie. Feed the Obsession. Go to https://www.ollie.com/twoparents and use code TWOPARENTS to get 70% off your first box! *Hers: Ready to reach your goals? Visit https://www.forhers.com/twoparents  to get personalized, affordable care that gets you. *FODZYME: We’re so excited to partner with FODZYME and offer you 30% off your first order when you go to https://www.Icaneatagain.com/twoparents -------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to the pod on YouTube/Spotify/Apple: https://www.youtube.com/@twoparentsandapod https://open.spotify.com/show/7BxuZnHmNzOX9MdnzyU4bD?si=5e715ebaf9014fac https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/two-parents-a-podcast/id1737442386 -------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Two Parents & A Podcast: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/twoparentsandapod TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@twoparentsandapod Follow Alex Bennett: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/justalexbennett TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@justalexbennett Follow Harrison Fugman: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/harrisonfugman TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@harrisonfugman -------------------------------------------------------------- Powered by: Just Media House – https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices