Chapter 11: Oh, yeah... Communication is a 2 Way Street!

December 20^th

·         Just when I was so excited that things were headed in the right direction, another lull and more peeing on the floor after just having offered the potty.

·         Total disappointment and frustration on my part… this went on most of the month of December.

·         Of note, I did have 2 work projects which meant she was with the babysitter most of the day while I worked downstairs.  A little jostle in her schedule after she had been used to only me for a few months.

·         I did come upstairs after her naps and try to pee her and encouraged the babysitter to pee her while she was watching her… even if she only sat on the potty and did nothing.  I don’t think the babysitter really tried, but… she plays and does so well with E in other things that I don’t want to push this issue.

·         After finally handing off my last project, I started to focus more on her EC. 

·         Finally, something dawned on me.  She would play with the potty typically if she had already gone and then I realized that I have been missing her cues that she has to potty… it typically involves coming over to one of us and doing a cry similar to her milk cry… just more of a heh heh heh heh and coming up to us. 

·         Today she has gone 3 times in the potty (and still a couple of times in her diaper), but…  I think I am learning to “communicate” with her and not just see this as potty training – which I have to remind myself that it is not the same – since she is only 11 months old!!!  (In a few days).

·         On another quasi-related note…we are still struggling with nighttime.  I gave up on EC at night because she would wake fully which would result in even less sleep for all of us.  Since then, we went to overnight disposable diapers. 

·         I hate doing the disposable diapers and I’m really starting to resent nursing every 2-3 hours through the night.  I’m not sure what to do… A typical night last night.. she woke around 1:30 to nurse, then another hour later she woke again (presumably to pee) and I nursed her to sleep again.  Then again at 4:30, then again at 6:00 and finally for the day at 7:15.  Seems like if I don’t nurse her back to sleep, she has a hard time settling.

·         I’m reading in the Sears sleep book about habits… clearly she is old enough and eats enough solids not to have to nurse so many times at night.  I LOVE co-sleeping and all of the research says it’s so healthy – but even the Sears docs say not if it comes at the price of resentment an lack of sleep… so after we get back from our Christmas trip, I think we are going to try Daddy comforting her at night and me sleeping in another bed until she realizes and learns to settle herself without nursing.  Ah, so much to learn and read about sleep and parenthood, etc. 

·         Hope you’re enjoying our journey!  I welcome any comments on the blog!

An after bath/after nap pee

Chapter 10: A Good Sign

November 6^th – November 24^th

·         During the first half of the month, we were pretty much on the same track for EC.  Not much communicating.  More catching after naps and when first waking up.

·         Pooping went from mostly in the toilet to cleaning many more diapers than I would prefer! 

·         However, during the second part of the month, we have figured out (at least we think) that E is starting to communicate using hand signals. 

·         She is 10 months today and today I decided conclusively that she knows what we are working on… she has started using the “milk” sign language sign to indicate potty. 

·         Today, we were at lunch at a Chinese restaurant and she was eating her baby food and had water and she signaled “milk”.  I wondered if she needed to pee.  Scott took her and sure enough, she went for him while we were out!  (Diaper was already wet, but she did pee in the toilet a bit, too).

·         Later while at home, she had nursed about 10 minutes prior to signing for “milk” again.  I put her on the potty, but she didn’t want to go…  I did feel, however, the diaper was very warm/wet, likely indicating she had just gone.  From what I hear, this is a logical progression in “normal” potty training as well.  It’s so exciting to see that she is understanding that she shouldn’t be wet.

·         She has also started grabbing the potty chair while at home.  Typically this indicates that she has already gone.

·         Also, a new development is that we have started giving Gerber puffs as a “reward” for going in the potty.  We are also encouraging her to sit on the potty, even when she protests being on there by saying  “Good sitting on the potty!”.  She seems to respond and sit there (although, she still doesn’t typically go).

·         Tonight, she had about 15 minutes of diaper free time after just having gone in the potty and peed on the kitchen floor during that time.  So, we’re not over that hump, but I do feel like progress is being made now that she can sign that she is wet (hopefully that will turn into the correct sign and learning to signal before she wets).

Chapter 9: Baby Girl Goes on Strike

October 10^th – November 5^th, 2010

·         This month has been a little challenging where EC is concerned.  She is now 9 months old and I think going through as many changes as a baby should ever have to endure at once!

·         She’s crawling, pulling up, teething, got her first case of the sniffles, eating more food, eating less milk, etc.

·         This last week she has been very obviously on a potty strike.  She is still mostly consistent with the after nap pee if I offer it in time.

·         Other than that, however, if I try to put her on the potty chair many times she will sit for 5 minutes or so and do nothing only to get off, crawl around and pee (or poop) on the floor.  I have to say I’m thankful that the pees and one poop have been on the hardwood – so much easier to clean! 

·         The other day Dad changed her and set her in her crib while he got a diaper ready – almost immediately she began to pee when he put her down in there.  The same thing happened to me recently even after I tried for quite a while to offer her the potty, the potty chair, the sink, etc.

·         Night time EC we have mainly given up on.  Occasionally when she wakes around 5 or 6 am, we offer her the potty.  I typically have more success than Scott does – not sure if it’s the way I hold her or just the fact that it’s me.  I will have to try to get a picture, because I don’t think this hold is in the EC books – it’s not the prettiest thing and after a few times of being peed on or missing the toilet and peeing on the ground, I finally figured out the way to master it!  You have to hold a cloth diaper under her butt and let the drips go there.   J

·         We are still offering after naps during the day and occasionally after nursing, but she nurses such a short amount of time lately that I don’t think she’ll have to pee afterwards.

·         I guess on a positive note, I have learned that when not in a diaper – she very clearly squats to pee and I have seen her squatting and focusing/pushing to poop the couple of times it has happened when we were not over the toilet.

·         Today, after offering the potty chair for a while, she crawled off came over to me, then went back to her chair and started playing with it.  I KNEW she had to go, so I went over to her and put my hand underneath her but and sure enough, she peed a very tiny amount in my hand.  I told her “E no shii shii on the floor, shii shii in the potty” and then set her on there – and of course got nothing, but not sure what else to do and this seemed to be the recommendation from the DFB group.

Chapter 8: EC Clothing

You can buy Baby Legs or modify knee socks.  I'm no seamstress, so I brought some socks that I had purchased for a little over a dollar (at Target on Clearance) to Michigan with me to get my mom's help!

It's cold today, but I'm really trying to work on a bit more diaper free time.  So E has on a jacket and some homemade Baby Legs and the cutest bare butt I've ever seen (if I do say so myself!).

Also, I remember reading about how pottying in different places can help and that outside is especially enticing to little ones.  So - we watered the plants on our back (mostly private) patio!  And by we I mean  E!  :)

Chapter 7: The Next Chapter

September 28^th – October 9^th, 2010

·         EC is going well, but starting to get complacent with it. I don't offer as much as I should and still forget sometimes after nursing.

·         She varies at night in terms of success.  Sometimes we go almost the whole night with a dry diaper, other times, she wakes 3-4 times and goes through 2-3 diapers.

·         She is teething (we feel teeth popping through in her bottom gums), so maybe that is what is causing this?  What I have read in EC books is that life stages/milestones can affect EC.

·         On the positive side, we have changed VERY few poopy diapers.  We did get one this morning (10/9/10) after a poop in the toilet, but I fed her plums for breakfast, so perhaps that had something to do with it!  And I got a tiny “shart” the other day, but it wasn’t a disgusting “oh my gosh” diaper!

·         I think next up I am going to look for some sheepskin or something that I can let her play on the floor on and try to leave her diaper off more – and work on timing, offering pees every 20-30 minutes.  Yes, probably will be setting my watch.  Maybe I can do diaper free times during the morning in this fashion?  Although, I have also read that the mornings are typically the heaviest peeing times.  I guess  I can experiment and figure out how many times I end up cleaning up the floor!

Chapter 6: EC while Traveling

September 24^th – 27^th, 2010

·         We were in Michigan from September 21^st – 26^th.  On our flight to Michigan, I wondered if we would do EC while on the flight. The flight was packed and we could barely get up, let alone get to the bathroom.  I had her in a g sposie (disposable flushable insert for the g diaper) and I did change her once in the restroom and tried to go on my own.  Disaster!  Rest room was out of water for washing hands and although they said they had antibacterial soap, they didn’t.  Yuck. 

·         The bathroom also didn’t have a light, just very dimly lit and it was HOT!  E was crying, I was about to cry, her blanket fell on the ground (HOLY YUCK!).  I barely was able to get my pants up one-handed as I was not ABOUT to set E on the floor in there and I said screw the belt and just took it off.  When I got to my mom’s house, I realized my fly was down – probably for all to see when I came out!

·         E did well with EC in Michigan.  She went at Great Grandma’s house, she went at my Mom’s house, she pooped every morning.  One night we even had a totally dry diaper!!!

·         Told my whole family about EC and they were impressed and I was shocked to hear that my Aunt V had actually heard of it before.

·         And on the plane ride on the way back to Seattle, she went pee not once but twice!!!  I’m so impressed with her ability to wait and tell me that she has to go – The first time, I just tried because we had access to the bathroom and she was fussy.  I told her she could go in her diaper, but as soon as we got in the bathroom and got the diaper off she went.  The second time, I was standing in the aisle trying to rock her to sleep and she kept pushing off of me – which she typically does when she has to go.  Sure enough, I got her in there, got her diaper off and she went!

·         AND the flight attendant volunteered to hold her while I went (I had to explain why I didn’t need her to hold her the first time we went in there).  Flight attendants were impressed and some surprised to hear about infant potty training.  I love that part – the education of EC.

September 8^th – 23^rd, 2010

·         Life has been busy since it’s been 2 weeks since my last post!  Since I haven’t been making notes, the best I can do is point out the highlights. 

·         Still going well with EC.  Some days are better than others and I really attribute this to how lazy I am feeling that day.  She typically has success after naps and when we wake up first thing in the morning.

·         Of particular excitement is that she has been eating more solid foods, which has meant more consistent poop times!  Several mornings (at least 4-5 so far) we have caught the first AM pee which is followed closely by a poop.  Typically, she’s a one poop per day baby and catching poop is a BIG deal because that means I don’t have to spray down a diaper or really be too involved with poopy diapers at all!  Plus, since they are more formed now (sorry, it’s the reality of the life we as mom’s lead that conversations at this stage will involve poop!) even if we do miss (more on that in a minute!) they are easy to get out of the diaper.  Cloth diapering seems so much easier, by the way, then I ever imagined it would be.

·         Of note over the past couple of weeks…

·         I took her diaper off in the living room in order to take her to the bathroom and was surprised by a poop in the diaper (whoops – missed her cue!) and since I didn’t know the poop was there it flung across the room – okay, it wasn’t really that dramatic, but it seemed that way at the time – in reality, it flipped out of the diaper and on to the floor narrowly skimming the couch on its way.  Lovely!  I guess non-EC’ers don’t have to deal with that, since they typically change on a changing table or somewhere where they expect a baby to lie down. I laughed hysterically, took her to the bathroom, wiped her up, called the dogs back to the bathroom so they didn’t eat/roll-in said “poop”.  After she was cleaned up and diapered, I grabbed some paper towels and disinfectant and thankfully it was really easy to clean up!

·         Also of note, E’s baby cousin C was born!  We went over to meet her and E went shii shii in the Potette potty when we were on the ferry (a little toilet seat that has a bag over it).  She was successful a second time after she woke up from her nap when we went out to eat lunch with her Dad.  I love new potty places because it shows that she’s not localizing to one potty!  She truly understands the concept and the cue words!

·         And my most exciting news comes last – granny babysat E so that we could have a date night.  She knew we were doing EC, but not sure that she ever saw Scott or I giving her a “pottytunity”.  When we got back from our date, Granny reported that E went in the potty and she said it almost surprised her how quickly it came.  I think E was crying/fussy and so she went to the potty with her and sure enough, that is what she wanted!  I was so proud of both of them for “communicating!!”.