EC beginnings and EC endings

Well, we're back to the beginning of EC with our new little one.  Its fun.  It's different this time since I didn't start EC with Luke until 3 months.  Taryn, we got to start right away.  We haven't been as diligent with her as we were with Luke, you know because my hands are always full.  But I do change her every time she wets.  I think that is probably one of the best things I could do for her because she absolutely hates a wet diaper.  Some days, when I'm really in tune, I can catch a lot of pees.  And we almost always catch poos.  She hates it even more to poop in her diaper, so it's like she's waiting to poop until we hold her over the potty.  I think she actually knows to wait, or to squirm enough that we'll take her. 
I'm really happy with how things are going.  I was concerned that I wouldn't have enough time to do EC with her because of having Luke too.

We are also ending our other side of the pottying journey.  Luke is almost finished with potty learning.  He almost never has accidents any more.  It was just a month ago I was telling my EC buddy Lisa about how I think it's going to be a while before he could actually tell me before he pees.  Well, he tells us now by saying 'I have to pee really bad!'.  lol.  I decided that I was going to put the potty in the living room, after having it in the bathroom all these months, so he could learn faster how to take himself.  Starting out, the bathroom is quite far to go once a 2 year old realizes they have to go.  It has worked out great.  He will either let himself outside in the grass, or more often then not just go walk over to the potty. 

He also always pees standing up.  He has really good aim.  I always wanted him to learn to stand so my husband has been great at showing him what to do.

One thing we have to work on is pulling down the pants.  He can't pull them on or off.  But he's really good at saying he has to go and that he needs help with his pants.  So he'll come over and ask for help so he can go pee. 

When we're out, he's good about holding it.  It's almost like the very few mistakes happen more at home.  So that has been really nice.

I can't believe he's almost done.  I can't believe how I haven't had to bribe, trick or reward him into going potty.  I am very glad that he chose to do it himself.  I do encourage him and get excited with him when he made it to the potty.  But he's done it himself, and I'm really proud. 

I love EC.  I can't even say enough good things about it.

2 Months! (Monday)

Dear Sweet Little Taryn,

You're still so small.  You're so lovable.  We can't believe it's been two whole months since your birth. 

You are very observant.  We're not sure if you don't like being held long in the Ergo or Moby because you have tummy bubbles or because you want to see.  You love to watch your brother play and talk.  If he's around you couldn't be happier.

This month you've started to smile on purpose.  You've also decided to laugh in the last couple of days.  Your laugh is the sweetest thing.  You think it's funny when we say boo at you and lift you up and down.  We are loving your squeal too. 

You are such an easy baby minus the tummy troubles in the beginning.  You've started sleeping well in the last week, helping your Mama and Daddy get some more rest.  You don't mind the car too much.  You don't mind to be put down for a bit when I have to help your brother. 

Quite the talker you are.  You say your coos when I am talking on the phone to Grandpa Jack.  And your Grandma Cheryl said 'you might be another talker like your Mama.'  lol.  Maybe one day between you and Luke I won't be able to get a word in!
 
This past weekend you met your great grandmother.  You just coo-ed away at her.

You are strong, you can already support your weight on your legs while we hold you.  Your head control is pretty good too!  And you drool all over the place, we almost think you are teething...

I forgot how sweet a baby smells, but your head has the sweetest baby smell.

You've already really taken to EC.  You love that you don't have to pee and poo in your diaper.  And it really upsets you when you do.

At night when we are trying to get you to go to sleep, after nursing, daddy takes you and listens to podcasts of priests homilies.  You also like the sound of the dryer (which is a good thing, we wash a lot of diapers around here).  Both of those put you right to sleep... and the warm hold of Daddy.

We love you dear Taryn. Can't wait for more!!

Love Mama and Daddy

EC-Update

This post is mostly for me, so I can remember for my next baby. 

Luke is telling me that he has to poop now, before he goes.  He did it for the first time when we went to my parents for Christmas.  He told me very clearly 'poop'.  There was another time before that, right before we left, he pooped a little in his pants and then told me poop and went the rest in the toilet.

He's been on and off either telling me right when he's going, or right before.  I think that's pretty awesome and a huge step. Now, if he'd just tell me right before he peed....

EC update

I just realized today that it has been a long time since I've updated about Luke's EC journey.  

He is now 18 months.  We almost always have him cloth training pants... which are pretty much like underwear with an extra absorbent pad in the center.  The pee still leaks out a little down the legs and since they are cloth, they wet the pants too (if he's wearing pants- we don't wear them all the time at home).   So when we go out, I bring an extra pair of pants and underwear.


I have to say that he hardly has accidents.  It seems more like the accidents are more when he is trying to tell me that he has to go, but I am not paying attention.  Or when we drive along ways, he gets fussy and I realize when I take him out that he was mad because he had to pee. 

Lately he has been wetting one diaper at night.  He is teething and therefore nursing more hence the wet diaper.  It usually happens when he wakes up and squirms a little bit and then nurses.  I usually check his diaper if he's been a little restless and if it's wet we change it right away.  I hate the thought of him sitting in a wet cloth diaper all night.
Before the teething, he would usually not wet all night.  I think his bladder is getting bigger now, finally.

As far as poop goes, we either catch them while he's peeing or we can see that he has to go and we take him.  I am so proud that he's now able to sit on the little potty until he's done pooping.  He used to want us to hold him over the potty.  And I can ask him, 'are you done?', and he'll either shake his head and say 'no' because he still has to go.  Or he'll stand up and say 'done'.  It's nice to not have to break my back holding him over the potty. 

Moving forward, I still would like him to tell me that he has to go.  He has done so on occasion, but I think it's when he really has to go.  Usually we just ask him if he has to go and his answer is almost always 'no' even if he does.  So I guess I should see if he could take the initiative more.  I'd also like to see if he would be more excited if he could stand on a stool by the potty and pee, but that's more of a job for dad :)

Even if he doesn't graduate or 'potty train' for a while, I have to say that EC is definitely worth it.  There's lots of misses in the beginning and there's different phases and potty strikes but I love it.  I can't wait to do it with my next child.  It has been such a great communication tool and a learning experience for both of us. 
I'm going to be bold and say, babies are so smart and they don't deserve to be left in poopy or wet diapers.  I truly believe that all babies signal potty signs to their parents, we just sometimes forget the way they communicate... at least I forget sometimes.

Diapers pt2

Ok so I called the company, it turns out I need to lanolize the diaper cover first.  Oops.  Stay tuned.

Diapers

I just bought this diaper.   Except the one I bought had more snaps for growth.  The goal of this exensive wool diaper was so it wouldn't leek at night.  Well, our first night with it, it leeked.

Let me fill you in a little more.  Luke wears training pants (or nothing around the house) during the day.  So our diaper covers are for night time.  There are nights where Luke doesn't pee at all.  But there are still nights when he pees.  We usually use gdiapers, but they leek a lot. 

And I change him right after he pees, I don't need a cover that can hold a lot.  I just need one that can not leek that one pee.  I'm just tired of waking up and then having to put a towel on our bed.  Maybe a wool blanket is the way to go?

Any ideas?  Is anyone reading this? lol

EC update

Just as I am writing this I am looking down to see that Luke peed in his diaper. He's sleeping and we just nursed so I think he peed then (he didn't pee all night long, hence the wet diaper now)

This weekend we went to my parents. We left Thursday night and came back Monday. Luke wet a total of 2 diapers the entire trip.
One was a night time diaper, so I can hardly count that since he still pees at night when he wakes up to nurse. The last couple nights he holds it until morning but if I don't take him when he wakes up to nurse, the huge night pee he's been holding leeks every where. Usually out of his diaper and on the bed. I think I might buy a better night diaper. I'm tired of washing sheets.
The other time he peed was when my grandparents were over for dinner. There was a lot of distraction and he was busy. He did stop, look down, and make the 'ssss' noise and then he turned and looked at us. We saw him do that right away so we changed him out of his training pants. But he knew what he was doing.
He's been doing the noise every time now. If he pees in his diaper or on the floor he will make the 'sss' noise that I've been doing the whole time. One time, in the car, he made that noise and we asked him if he could hold it until we could pull over. We pulled over and to our surprise he waited. So does he understand now? He seems to be understanding and very aware of when he pees. Now I don't know what to do. Leave him in underwear, training pants, or diaper. I'm not sure where to go from here.

EC update

Lately since Luke has become so mobile (walking ALL over the place) I have caught him on his way to the bathroom on a few occasions. We have always used the small potty in the bathroom. I tried once to do it in the living room, but its just too distracting for him to go anywhere but the bathroom. Well, he does enjoy a good pee outside but as far as in house locations, it's only the bathroom.
There were a couple times where we were in the living room and he just took off down the hall for no reason. The first time he made it down the hall but then stopped. I came over, looked in his diaper and sure enough, he peed. The next time he was diaper free. He crawled like he was going somewhere down the hall then stopped and peed. I think he knew he had to go, but just couldn't make it all the way in there.
When we were at his grandparents he has made his way in the bathroom on two occasions. The first time he went in there, he had just peed about 5 minutes earlier, so just a little dribble came out in his diaper and he was done with it. The next time I thought, well I'll just see if that was the reason he went into the bathroom. I held him over the potty and sure enough, he had to go.
Just recently he pointed to the bathroom while we were sitting in our room. He had to go then too. Though, he has pointed to the bathroom other times when he hasn't had to go. (he really likes to point)
I know I still have a ways to go before he's 'potty trained'. But I'm not even sure what that really means. He goes most days with only wetting diapers at night (because I'm too lazy or tired to get up and take him) or he wets diapers when he's busy playing or at a new place. But when we go out, more and more I just leave him in his training pants. I think I'm becoming more and more confident about him just wearing training pants instead of a diaper and a lot of times I wonder why I'm carrying around so many diapers.
I know it'll still be a while but EC is so amazing. I can't believe how far we've come.

Why I love EC.

I love EC because...

• How do people change cloth poop diapers of an older baby on solid foods? I've done about 2 and that was enough. I don't think Luke has pooped in his diaper for at least 2 months now. Every time he poops in his potty, I think 'man, I love EC'.
• Diapers are expensive.
• Training pants on a 10 month old are so cute.
  
• I bring tons of diapers every where. I use 0-1 and then wonder why I carried so many with me. (not really a reason to love, just something funny, I would love it more if I stopped carrying around so many diapers)
  
• We're getting better at communicating. I think he's almost telling me now that he has to go. Once I saw him crawl back towards our room randomly. He peed on the floor on the way there but I honestly think he was going back there to go the potty.
• I have to constantly remind myself that starting a sentence with 'When I took Luke to the potty...' or 'Hold on, I think Luke has to potty..' doesn't really make sense to most people considering he's only 10 months old.
  

There's still lots of misses but I can't believe I'm actually doing EC. What an incredible way to communicate with a baby... and to think that I laughed at the idea of EC 8 months ago...

EC stories of the day

(in case you're unfamiliar EC or Elimination Communication is this )
EC Story of the day #1
I just have to post these before I forget. This morning my dad called, Luke was super fussy during the last 10 minutes of our conversation. I got off the phone Luke was still fussy. I thought he just wanted attention. But even though I was holding him he still didn't stop squirming and whining. Even though I didn't think he had to go, I took him to the bathroom. I set him on his toilet. He immediately pooped. He was completely fine after that. I totally missed that communication but he held it until I took him, how cool!
EC Story of the day #2
On the way to moms group at New Seasons, Luke was passed out in the ergo. I went in and sat down and he didn't wake up right away. He woke up about 20 mintues after we got there. He always pees right after waking up so i decided to take him back to the bathroom so we didn't have to dirty a diaper. When I got back there (the bathroom far away from where we meet for moms group) his diaper was already wet so I figured I just hadn't gotten him back there in time and he had to go. I took his diaper off while I was holding him to switch out the pre-fold inside of his diaper cover. I started to feel something warm... yep you guessed it, he started to pee on me. I flipped him around to the potty and he let the rest of the pee out in the toilet. Needless to say I got pee all over the side of my shirt and pants. It wasn't too much since most went in the toilet. Luckily you couldn't see it on my shirt but you could see a little wet on my pants but it kinda looked like I had just gotten water on myself from washing my hands. That wasn't the first time I've been peed on and it probably won't be the last :)

Diaper Free Baby

I just got back from my first Diaper Free Baby/ Elimination Communication meeting. I have always wanted to go. Today was a membership drive. They took Luke's picture while he was sitting on his potty for a book. The book is pictures of other babies on their pottys.
We started EC when Luke was 3 months. I had never heard of pottying a baby until Ben had told me that he saw it on the news when he was a kid. Ben was always interested in EC for when he had kids. I never actually believed it would work until I met a neighbor who was ECing her boy as well. She said she's had a great time doing it and success. I thought, what the heck, I'll try it. I mean the worst that would happen is that I would just do the regular diaper thing like I was already doing.
For those of you who don't know, EC is basically learning the signs and cues of your baby of when they have to potty and then taking them to the potty. The first step is to observe when they pee/poop and make a cue noise such as 'ssss'. Then once you get their signs and timing down you start taking them over the potty and cue-ing them. Many people think that it is 'early potty training', but that's not it at all. It's listening to your baby's signs and signals that he has to eliminate.
For us, EC has been going really well. Luke pretty much goes in the potty most of the time with some off days mixed in there. It's so amazing that babies give signals. I love feeling so tuned into Luke that I can take him to the bathroom. I can also tell that he hates being in a wet diaper and will almost never poop in one (unless I miss his signs which happens on occasion).
It's great living down the street to a mom who also does EC. It's nice to see how a EC child grows up and transitions to being fully independent pottying. I am excited to see how Luke will gradually do more of it on his own. But for now, just being in tune with him is great. Babies are just so smart.

The meeting was all the way in NE Portland. Usually Luke doesn't like longer car rides but I think he is actually tolerating longer trips now(thankgoodness). I was so proud of him for being happy all the way to the meeting and then coming home. We didn't even have to stop at all!

I love watching Luke grow up. He amazes me every day.