Exclaim in fear

I missed a #2 today. Not to get too graphic, but the clean-up required a tub and a removable shower head. I don't know if #2 is always going to be this sticky, but if it is, I'm sure glad that DS usually waits to go in the toilet. If he were always going #2 in a diaper I'm sure I would dread each little grunt DS ever made. "Oh no! He might be pooping!" I'd exclaim in fear.

But instead I say, "Woo-ee. Sure glad I usually get you over a toilet before this stuff comes out."

Also, I am now almost certain that I don't actually see DS's cue for peeing, but that I instead just take him to the toilet often enough to catch a few pees. This is somewhat disconcerting, as I'd like to eventually get the 'communication' part of EC working. Right now I'm sort of doing elimination timing. I guess it gets DS used to going in the toilet, but it would probably be less work for both of us if I could figure out some way for him to tell me he's gotta go. Any suggestions?

What's In a Vessel?

DS's trigger for eliminating does not appear to be the "pss-pss" sound but instead is when the feeling or act of sitting on his plastic potty chair. DS gets stagefright when I put him on the big toilet seat or hold him over the toilet. EC experts say that the vessel shouldn't matter, so that you are free from having to tote the potty training chair around with you in the car. But for now DS is only comfortable doing the duty on his own toilet, his green portable potty chair.

A Day of EC and Counting Diapers

I wanted to get a better sense of DS's elimination patterns, so we tried a full day of EC, placing DS's potty chair front and center in the TV room. Here's how it went.

6:30 a.m. CATCH - wake-up pee
6:35 a.m. Diaper #1; then 6 oz. milk (formula)
8:00 a.m. Breakfast of pureed apples mixed with baby oatmeal, plus 2 oz. milk
8:15 a.m. CATCH - post-breakfast pee and poo
8:17 a.m. Re-used diaper #1
9:15 a.m. MISS - post-post breakfast pee and poo
9:18 a.m. Diaper #2
9:30 a.m. 2 oz. milk; morning nap
10:15 a.m. MISS - put DS on potty when he woke up but had missed a pee; Diaper #3
10:45 a.m. Snack/meal - 1 jar of pumpkin/sweetcorn puree and 2 oz. milk
11:15 a.m. CATCH - poo; re-used diaper #3
11:40 a.m. Stroller walk
12:00 p.m. MISS/CATCH - caught tail-end of pee session when I put DS on his potty chair
12:10 p.m. 2 oz. milk; MISS - DS peed in my lap and we both laughed hysterically
12:13 p.m. Diaper #4
12:20 p.m. Nap
1:45 p.m. MISS - put DS on potty but he had already peed while napping
1:46 p.m. Diaper #5
2:00 p.m. 3 oz. milk
2:45 p.m. MISS - diaper was already wet; Diaper #6
3:00 p.m. Snack/meal - jar of applesauce
3:20 p.m. Put on potty; no results
3:30 p.m. Went to the store
4:30 p.m. MISS - Diaper #7
4:45 p.m. Bath - Diaper #8
5:00 p.m. 5 oz. milk
5:15 p.m. CATCH - pre-bed pee; re-used Diaper #8
5:30 p.m. Bedtime

By the end of the day I was exhausted, and dismayed that there were more misses than catches. But by spending a day focusing on EC, we had more catches than ever before in a single day. I was upset that we did not significantly reduce the number of diapers used, but this should not have been a surprise since with EC you are checking/removing the diaper frequently. The benefit is that your baby never is sitting in a wet or dirty diaper for an extended period of time. EC days (or chunks of days) are important for getting a better understanding of your child's elimination patterns, but I admit I was so burned out after our EC day that I didn't try to catch anything for the next two days.

I've become less intense about EC of late and typically only put DS on the potty after waking and meals. It's been less stressful for both of us, and still we are seeing progress. DS seems to recognize the purpose of sitting on his potty chair (he crawls off of it when he doesn't need it), and he seems extremely relieved (no pun intended) to be able to have a BM on his potty rather than in his diaper. The challenge in training babies when they are older (DS is 9 months old) is that they are used to eliminating in their diapers. So the baby holds it until you put the diaper ON him. It's important to stay the course during this "re-training" process and to celebrate the little victories, like the other day when DS stared at me and willed me to place him on his potty, after which he immediately went #2. Little stinky wonderful victories.

Midnight WeePee

Last night DS woke up around 2 a.m., which is not unusual. He usually only wakes once in the night - I feed him and he falls right back to sleep. So last night, when he woke, I assumed it was business as usual. But once he'd eaten, he was acting just a little bit different. He wasn't crying or fussy, just more alert than usual. I laid him in his crib, and started to go back to bed, when I thought, "Maybe he's got to go to the bathroom." I worry about taking him into a lighted bathroom in the middle of the night because I don't want to get him all riled up so that he won't go back to sleep. But last night I decided to take him in and see if he'd go. As soon as I held him over the toilet, he pooped. It was my first nighttime catch. He went right back to sleep, and so did I. I really feel like we are making progress. DS on letting me know he's got to go, and me on understanding him.