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!

Mommy's Developmental Milestones

Today, I installed the convertible car seat in the Jeep....  the one that has been sitting in our house for about six months, but which I have been reluctant to use because I am so attached to being able to leave him sleeping in the infant bucket and just unclip the bucket and go about my business.  He did end up falling asleep in the car on the way home... and then I successfully transferred him sleeping from the seat in the car to his bed for the duration of his nap.  I conquered a fear today, and maybe I'm growing as a parent.  I did it!

Also today, we went to "Baby Time" for kids 0-2 at the library for the second time (we went last week with Gma Joyce).  Last week I was very paranoid about him tackling other kids and taking their toys away, and so I hovered over him the whole time, watching like a hawk.  I tried to reign myself in a little bit this week, telling myself that if he's ever going to functional properly in social situations, I should probably let him figure it out a little bit.  Not to mention that he's such a social kid -- it's not like I should be terribly worried.

So today I hung back and watched him tear off crawling across the floor.  And when he got to a smaller baby... he pulled up short and sat next to her!  I was sure he was just going to crawl right over her head.  But he didn't!

Then he spied a toy he wanted and a little one-year-old girl who was smaller than him was playing with it.  He crawled up to her and took it away... and then she took it right back!  He looked at her an blinked, then looked at me across the room, then looked back at her.  Then he crawled to another toy that no one was playing with.

It's funny because I have no real trouble letting him do or try physical things on his own without too much over-worrying interference (climbing stairs, reorganizing my kitchen cabinets, etc.), but when it comes to interacting with other kids, perhaps I project my own introversion onto him and want him to be more cautious?  I guess I have to learn to let him be himself.  One step at a time.

Three words

Double ear infection.

:o(

My poor baby boy.  Bring on the amoxacillin!

Happy Easter!

Last week, Gma Joyce came to visit to help me to start to prepare for BG coming.  THANK YOU SO MUCH.  Andrew also enjoyed lavishing kisses and lovin' on Gma.

Yesterday, we had our friends, the A's, over for dinner.  Mr. Logan is about 3.5 months older than Andrew so it was fun to see them interact and to see what we can look forward to from Andrew when BG is born.

Look out, world.  Here comes trouble.

Stroller buddies. Who needs a duallie?

Today was Andrew's first Easter.  Andrew celebrated Christ's triumph over death by... taking a nap that lasted all the way through the service.  Perhaps this is a sign of the peace that passes all understanding?

After church, we went for a drive to see the burn zone from the Lower North Fork Fire.  It was pretty eerie.  One side of the road is charred and black and looks like the moon, and the other side is... green.  Normal.  As several members of our church were affected by the fire, and the sermon was themed on "new life rising out of ashes," seeing the burn area had incredible impact.

Once home, we made a huge ham, cheesy potato, and brussels sprouts feast... for just the three of us.  It was dee-licious.

We then colored eggs, which Andrew was kind of fascinated by.  He wanted to eat the eggs.

Andrew was so worn out that he crashed into bed at 6:30pm.

In other developmental news, Andrew appears to be cutting his first molar.  Ouch.  His sleep is shot again, and he's been irritable (for him).  I can feel the tooth coming under the gum, but who knows how long it will be until it actually erupts through - hopefully sooner rather than later!  Not sure how much more of this we can take!

His current fascination in play is with putting items in containers.  He loves "putting toys away."  Or taking rings off the stacker and dropping them in the lemonade can.  He's also getting that orientation is important.  He can finally get the letters into their slot on the electronic music box for our refrigerator alphabet set (thanks to the W's for multi-stage learning fun!).  He can get some of the shapes into the shape sorter, and he will sit and rotate them around, because he knows they have to be clocked properly to go in.  Impressive!