Pumpkins, polywogs, the potty train & pigtails

Pumpkins:
When we brought in our two lonely pumpkins just before the first freeze, J commented "They look like Bert and Ernie." So, we just added a little paint and black yarn to complete the look.

Polywogs:
One of our science units last month was about amphibians and reptiles. To get into it, we bought a couple of polywogs to observe. M named them Tina and Tiny Tim. The girls were really interested in them the first few days, but they've slowly lost interest. I've kept up with their feeding, at least, and even changed the water a few times, but apparently I'm no frog keeper, because somehow I lost Tiny Tim. I found him floating upside down one morning. A little prodding seemed to revive him and he swam around for a bit, but every time I looked at the tank over the next couple of days, he was floating upside down. I tried changing the water, isolating him, even frozen peas (it worked for our goldfish), but all of my efforts were in vain. We held a private funeral for him in the downstairs bathroom. This rambling does have a purpose: Now Tina is acting lethargic. We were getting excited because she is showing signs of metamorphisizing (is that a word?) and I'd hate to lose her at this point. Does anyone out there have experience raising tadpoles? Any hints on how to keep them happy and healthy is appreciated.

The Potty Train:
We've been actively potty training K for 3 months now. One day while brushing her teeth she announced she wanted to sit on the "potty train" and proceeded to climb up on the toilet (with the lid down). She regressed a little during our reunion trip in August, but after a few days at home she was back in the groove. The only problem now is that she won't go on her own. She'll just sit and wiggle until she can't hold it anymore but she won't go into the bathroom until I take her in. Any hints on how to get this potty train on the move?

Pigtails:
B finally has enough hair to do pigtails, though they look more like bug antennae.