Double Fail

Most of the time I bring Olive to the potty first thing in the morning, and I mean first thing, like as our eyes are opening, she pees and poos, and then I dont have to think about it for another half an hour at least. But sometimes she doesn't pee, and sometimes she doesn't have to poo. Then it's kind of a guessing game. That's not my fail. My fail is this; if she doesn't poo right away, I know it will probably be coming soon. we hang out in the kitchen playing and eating breakfast, or checking my emails and eating breakfast, and playing, I see her *I'm taking a shit* face, and I know it. Its the EC mamas intuition, but another part of my brain says 'no no Julia, she's not pooing, she's just playing', the lazy part of my brain. And the Intuition part is ALWAYS right, the lazy part NEVER. But for some reason it still happens. Not all the time, but often enough to make me annoyed with myself. It backfires on the lazy part, because cleaning shitty diapers is way more work than bringing a babe to the potty. Fail #1.

Also, yesterday I tried making yogurt, and it looks like chunky milk soup. Fail #2

At least its warmer out and my poopy butt baby is cuddly.

Where We're at With Poos and Pees

When I started Elimination Communication with Olive a couple of months ago I was a little overwhelmed with the idea, so I made a very small and simple goal; bring Olive to the toilet when we wake in the morning, and when she gets up from a nap. Its gone great, better than I expected really, so I've set some new goals.
I'd say we were catching at least 1 pee a day, and her poos in the mornings, if she had one. I didn't really know where to go from there. I've read from other ECing bloggers about finding their intuition for when their little one had to go. Checking for noises and funny faces. I haven't really been able to find mine. I just don't know when she has to go, maybe I started too late, or I'm not paying enough attention, I've recently read that babies before 3 or 4 months give more obvious clues to their elimination but after that, if no one has noticed yet, they tend to stop signaling and just go inconspicuously. Maybe I need to give it more time. Regardless of my lack in 'the feeling' I came up with my own new plan to step up our potty learning; taking her to the toilet with me. I figure she's going to need to go at least as many times as I do in a day, probably more considering her liquid diet. Annnnnd, this has worked! We're catching about 3 pees a day. I am still having trouble with her rogue daytime pooing though.
Last week when Amy and I went to the library I checked for any good potty training books, but unfortunately couldn't find any of the ones I was looking for so I took out the only one that looked decent; Early Start Potty Training by Linda Sonna, figuring maybe I could gather some ideas. It focuses on potty training at all ages but puts a BIG emphasis on staring as soon as possible. I was surprised, I didn't think I would find an EC book in our library. The only thing I don't like about this book is that she suggests putting your baby onto a drinking/feeding schedule, if you cannot figure out when they are going, to regulate their eliminating. I'm of the school of thought that kids know when they are thirsty and hungry, and that their daily needs fluctuate, so schedules are not my style, I feed Olive when she's hungry.That's my priority.
When I read any parenting books I get very very crazy about that one subject the whole time I read it. When I read The No-Cry Sleep Solution all I could think about was naps, routines, and bedtime. Then I calm down right after. To deal with that I'm giving myself the week to obsess, digest new skills, and see what we can accomplish. Yesterday I started taking notes on when Olive nurses, has a wet diaper, pees in the potty etc. I always underestimate how far a little note taking can get me! Already I've noticed that Olive pees about every hour, which gives me a frame to work around.
It may seem like a lot of thought and time is going into this. It is. Really really its work. But I see the pay off. I really don't want to be fighting with a 3 year old about shit, literally. Olive is at a perfect age where I have patience for her mistakes because I don't expect results overnight and I haven't been washing soiled diapers for years, and she is receptive to learning anything, heck, she started waving goodbye this week! So its work yes, but its work now, or work later. Why not now?

The Potty

Olive, using her potty.
I'd say she'll go in it a few times a week. Probably averaging once a day, but not everyday, and sometimes if we're eager a couple of times in one day.
When I first heard about 'Elimination Communication', or infant potty training it just confused me. My friend Pamela told me about her uncle who was going to teach his newborn how to pee in the toilet, and said like that, he sounded a little kooky. Then I read about it here, on Twwly's blog, and it caught my interest, but I was 8 months pregnant, and everything about parenting was still in that hypothetical land, a couple weeks away, and overwhelmingly out of my grasp.
We didn't try it. I just decided it was cool that other people were doing that with their kids, but it was not for us. I've swung back and forth from being interested to thinking those parents must be crazy, and where do they find the time!?
As it turns out we have some neighbour-families who EC, not just one but two! It was them who encouraged me to try it. Anne-Marie said "Don't worry about doing it all the time. Just try sitting with her on the toilet when she wakes up from a nap, you will see she'll go pee". And she did. So I realised "oh I can do this."
My goal isn't to have Olive potty trained. Just to familiarize her with the idea, or more importantly to not train her out of her instincts in the first place. She knows when she has to go. I really didn't think she would know the difference, but she does. She will go in her diaper, yes, but if I recognize her signs, and give her the opportunity, she'll happily go in her potty. I sit her down, say "poo" or "pee pee", I can see her think for a few seconds, then there it is. If she doesn't have to go she wiggle and squirm, and I'll know its not the time. Its easy, and no pressure, and now I don't have to clean super-gross-real-food-poo diapers, or at least not as many.

She brings her own reading material.

Her front teeth still haven't pushed through yet, but the pain seems to have passed for now. A funny note about ECing; Olive will not sit on her potty while she is teething. Before I realised she had two swollen lumps on her gums last week I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I'd sit her down, and she'd scream and reach her arms out to me, saying 'mum mum mum mum mum'. I've heard before that babies do not multi-task while getting teeth. They teethe, and that's it! So we had a little EC break last week.

If you're at all more interested in the subject I suggest you click through the link leading to Twwly's blog, she really gives a good explanation. Here's the link again: http://twwly.com/parenting/elimination-communication/