Potty Time

Back when I was first reading about natural birth, natural parenting, baby-led parenting, attachment parenting, etc., I inevitably ran across the subject of elimination communication (EC).  I was like, "What?  Put a newborn on the toilet?  That sounds like so much WORK." And I summarily put it out of my head.

But.... the subject sort of crept back up on me.  A friend on a message board with a son about 3 weeks older than Andrew started sitting him on the potty a few times a day at around 10 months old.  Not to really potty "train," per se, but more to familiarize and normalize the activity.  "This is where we go pee and poo, and it feels better to sit here than wear it in a diaper."  Trying to hold a newborn over a toilet still sounds stressful to me, but an older infant who can sit up by himself?  That sounds like it's worth trying.  Not to mention, if it leads to even slightly earlier potty training eventually, or even just less diapers, with soon-to-be two way way under two, how can I argue?

So we picked up copies of "Diaper Free Before 3" and "Diaper Free Baby" from the library, picked up a couple of Baby Bjorn potties, and tried sitting him on it fairly (but not terribly) consistently when he wakes in the morning, after nap, and when he goes to bed.  Within a week he had peed on the potty for the first time, and boy was that exciting!  It was after nap (which to this day, which is when we usually catch it).  He was 10.5 months old.  And he's been going every once in a while after his naps for the past month now.

And for the past month, whenever I hear so much as a fart, I have been running to put him on the potty, in hopes of demonstrating to him how much pleasanter it is to poop there instead of in one's pants.  But no luck so far.  I've thought that first thing in the morning would be a good time to catch him, because that's his one really regular time.

Well,. daddy had the honors this morning.  He heard the farts during the first morning diaper change and decided to give the potty a shot.  And voila!  Success!  I am sparing you and the internet the picture. (Oh yes, there is one.  We are very proud.)

I'm so pleased with how this is going.  It's easy and low-key.  There are no accidents or huge messes, because we just aren't pushing very hard.  It's just introducing him to the idea, and again... if he gets the hang of it sometime between now and two years old, so much the better!

2 weeks

Andrew Lee is growing up.  He's almost back at his birth weight, currently tipping the scales at 8 lb even.  Dr. B is very happy with that.  Nursing is SOOOOOOOO much better.  We are even moving forward with side-lying nursing, which was a challenge at first.  We are co-sleeping, and so the side-lying nursing is key to getting mommy, and daddy too, a lot of sleep.  And though of course we are up in the night, I think we are getting a whole lot of sleep, all things considered.  I honestly can't imagine doing this any other way.  People actually get up and walk to another room every 2-3 hours?  Andrew and I just roll over, he latches on, and we both drift back off to sleep.  Other than a couple of diaper changes (thanks, daddy, for handling those), we don't leave our nest.

This  is also the clear choice for sleeping because he seems to absolutely *loathe* being on his back, alone in a crib or bassinet.  So we've been "practicing" during naps, experimenting with laying him down in the crib or the pack-n-play.  Usually, if he's already asleep, it's about 2 minutes before he's woken himself up (swaddled or not) and is asking politely to be picked up.  In 2 minutes more, the polite asking has turned to demanding.

Lately, though, he's been having more "quiet alert" awake time, which makes him seem like a very mature kid.  If he's put down when quiet alert, he seems content to look around and take in the world from his back.  He won't go to sleep though.  A couple days ago he started fussing and Daddy put on an Alabama CD, and he immediately quieted down and seemed perfectly content.  It was really funny, because one song would wind down, and he would start to fuss a bit, then the next song would start and he would calm right back down, listening and dancing to the music.  So I guess that we have discovered Andrew's first favorite band.  :o)

Listening to old Alabama...

Today the sun finally came out after our May snow, and we went for a walk up the gulch.  It wasn't that far, but it was really nice for mommy to stretch her legs and get some exercise.  Andrew rode in the Moby carrier and fell asleep.  As the weather is nicer, we are recovered from birth, and we are having more quiet alert time,  I can't wait to experiment with more of my baby carriers and slings and get this one out to enjoy the world.

I guess it's really time to admit it - I'm really going in for the Dr. Sears "Attachment Parenting" approach.  I didn't go into this with a lot of "rules" about how I wanted to parent my baby (other than the breastfeeding, which I felt very strongly about), but I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy the attachment parenting principles are and how natural and good they feel.  The experiment continues - after all, what is first-time parenting but one large experiment??  ;o)