Ellie taking control

This morning, Ellie and I followed the same routine. After she woke up, we went into the bathroom and I removed her diaper. She played for a little bit, then started to make her "uh, uh!" sound that she makes if she want something. She walked right over to the potty, sat down, and did a big poop. I made sure the potty was in the right place, but I didn't prompt her or anything. She did it totally ON HER OWN! Amazing!

Update on Ellie

Ellie moved from "mobile" to walking very quickly. She was walking as her main mode of transportation by the time she was 10 months old, so potty training took a backseat to exploring.

Between her walking and general business in our family, I hadn't spent too much effort on Ellie's potty training. Basically, I took her to the potty every time she woke up. Since she napped twice a day, this was three times a day. Sometimes she went, sometimes she didn't. No big deal.

Right around when Ellie turned 13 months old, life settled down, so I began thinking about her training again. She generally wakes up a couple hours earlier than Katie, so we have a nice block of time in the morning with just the two of us. So we've been going into the bathroom and I've been letting her run around naked. I got her some bath crayons, and she has a ball writing all over the tub. The first few days we did this, she would release an entire pee on the floor. I said "oops!" in a happy tone, and set her on the potty. The next day, she really learned what was going on. She would start to pee, and then stop herself. I would set her on the potty and she would go a little more, but not the whole thing. She would stand up and play for a while, then this would repeat. It repeated half a dozen times until she let out the whole pee into the potty! From then on, she's been able to release her whole pee into the potty. She still usually does a little dribble first, and then I move her on, but most of her pee goes in the potty. I've taken some days off here and there, because we've all been sick back-and-forth, but we do this whenever we can.

The most amazing part has been when we're not in the bathroom. She REGULARLY goes into the main bathroom, when we're in the kitchen or family room, and looks at me. When I set her on the potty, often she will go. Other times she will have just gone in her diaper. This is happening at least once a day. Today I was helping Katie on the toilet and I looked over and Ellie was sitting on her potty!

One of her favorite games right now is to go into the bathroom and wait. When I ask her if she needs to go potty, she will look at me with glee, and then start running and squealing. She loves "get you"!

It's just amazing how she has been learning with absolutely no pressure or stress on my part. I guess I'll judge when she's "graduated," but right now I am in awe of this potty training method!

Ellie on the move

Well, Ellie has become a master "mover" over the past few weeks, so I have been holding her less and less. Since most of her potty cues have been physical, a specific squirming, it's been harder to get her to the potty at the right times. We've even had some poop misses in the last couple days. It's been a little discouraging. From what I've read, this "newly mobile" time period in a baby's life often brings an interruption in the potty process. Hopefully it will straighten out as she becomes adjusted to her mobility.

I read about some babies actually crawling to their potties to use them, so I brought her potty to the tile floor in the kitchen and let Ellie play without a diaper. Well, she looked at the potty for a little while, pulled up to a stand on the stove, and peed. So much for that. We'll have to get a bit more creative. Or just wait a while longer.

We did have a successful first "diaper-free" outing, though. Well, not totally diaper-free. I had her in a cloth diaper without a cover and carried her the whole time. We walked up the the post office (about a block and a half) and back, then we stayed in our backyard for a few minutes. I call my mom, and while I was talking to her, I got the feeling that Ellie had to go. So I took off Ellie's pants and diaper and let her pee in the rocks under the gutter drain, then put everything back on. All without my mom noticing! That was a thrilling success!

Where have I been?

Traveling, the home, busily slogging though each day, but most of all I haven't written because I've had nothing to write. What do I say? Not much has changed in the past three weeks.

Katie's attempted potty-training is still mom-directed. Her potty dance that I was so excited about never occurred again. She had numerous accidents, including poop accidents. It's rare to get through a day without an accident. We're still using pull-ups, and again, maybe that's the trouble. But I'm not willing right now to switch to panties. Maybe actual training pants would work, but I haven't seen them for less than $17.00, which is 40 pull-ups at the grocery store. That's a big stretch. Maybe if I can find some new ones on E-bay I'll give it a try.

Ellie, too, is still doing about the same. She is much more mobile now, so I think it's a bit trickier at this stage. She's crawling quickly and pulling up on everything, and doesn't seem to think as much about her elimination. In the last few days she's begun to do something with her hand that looks to me like the "potty" sign I've been making for her, but when I respond to it she doesn't need to go. She could be learning it, though. That would be very exciting. I just take her to the potty every once in a while and she often goes. As the days are getting colder, I am a little worried about continuing her potty usage, because it takes so long to get winter clothes off. I've had a couple of instances lately where it's taken me too long to get her on the potty, and she's peed all over me as I'm taking off her diaper. Not cool. Maybe it's time to switch HER to training pants.

Travel Successes and Vacation Regressions

Both girls do very well with potting while traveling, but I was particularly amazed with Ellie this time. When we arrived at our destination, she was wearing the same dry diaper that she had put on that morning - two airplanes and 7 hours earlier! We just took advatage of the opportunities that we had to bring her to a potty, and she did the rest.

Happily my husband took charge of Katie during the longer of the flights. She asked for 6 trips to the airplane bathroom and was successful once. She did make it dry to the other side, though, and that's what counts! Since we've been here the schedule is pretty messed up and she's not been doing so well. We're back to full-time pull-ups, and we'll have to decide when we get home if we'll go back to panties right away.

Ellie at the Doctor

Today Ellie had her 6-month checkup. At her four-month checkup, she arrived with a dry diaper and let loose as soon as the nurse took it off to weigh her. I was a little anxious about the whole thing. The nurse, however, had completely forgotten. Maybe it happens more than I'd like to think.

I took Ellie to the bathroom when we got there, but since the appointment lasted two hours (!!) she had to go twice more before we were done. I'm so proud of her! Her diaper was removed twice with the medical staff and she didn't go either time. She only went where and when I cued her. Infant potty training is so exciting.

Book Review - The Diaper-Free Baby

The Diaper-Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative
by Christine Gross-Loh

My Rating: 4 1/2 stars

"Believe it or not, your child was born not wanting to go the bathroom in a diaper." After reading this book and putting the suggestions into practice, I believe it.

This is what I loved about the book:
*the author has a PhD from Harvard
*the cover is cute and professional (as opposed to Infant Potty Training)
*it is comprehensive and easy to read

Gross-Loh talks about her own journey to infant potty training and some of her challenges in using this method. She includes dozen of quotes from other parents as well.

"Diaper-free" is a scary phrase; Gross-Loh explains at the beginning of the book that it doesn't mean your baby must be without anything to catch her eliminations. It means "freedom from an exclusive reliance on diapers." I can get on board with that.

The book is very helpful, including advice on starting at different ages, charts of "frequent miss situations," signs to look for, and common questions.

A compelling read.

And the Tides Turn Once Again

We had an amazing day today. I instituted the schedule, as I mentioned yesterday. I warned her in the morning, so she didn't fight it at all. The day was a COMPLETE SUCCESS. Not only did Katie get all of her waking eliminations in the potty, she also forewarned me about an off-schedule second poop AND woke up dry from her nap. I'm back up on the mountaintop. What a ride!

I ordered some cloth diapers for Ellie off of Ebay from this seller. It's my first foray into cloth diapering, and I'm really glad I got them. My biggest objection to cloth diapering was cleaning the poops off diapers. Since we get 95% of poops in the potty, and most of the misses are when we're in extenuating circumstances, I decided that I could give them a try. We've been going back and forth between cloth and disposables. I've only used disposables for sleeping so far, but we'll see how it goes. Another bonus for the cloth is that they're much easier to get off when I bring her to the potty (if I don't have the cover on.) I like leaving the cover off and laying her on a waterproof pad. Seeing her in cloth makes me surprisingly happy. Cloth diapers look so much more comfortable than disposable diapers. We'll see how it goes. This is only the second day.

Home again

The trip back went well yesterday, three visits to the bathroom on the airplane. Right as we were starting to descend, Katie said she had to go. We wouldn't have had time to go (and the seat belt sign was on), so I told her she would have to wait until we landed. I was fully expecting her to go in her pull-up, but she actually waited until we landed! By the time the plane stopped moving, she had probably held it for almost 15 minutes!

Today she got to wear her "big-kid" underwear all morning without a hitch.

Somewhere between getting in the car to go to the airport and arriving at our gate, Ellie had wet her diaper. So I gave her a new one before getting on the plane, and she was dry the whole first flight. As soon as we deplaned, I brought her to the bathroom and she went. I guess I didn't keep her over the toilet long enough though, nor did I refasten her diaper correctly. Oops. So a few minutes later, when we were waiting at our next gate, she fussed in her stroller. I didn't think she would have to go, since she had just gone. Anyway, I picked her up and put her on my lap and soon felt wetness on my leg. What timing.

A day of Firsts

Vacation, incredibly, has continued to be a time of significant advancement toward to goad of independent pottying. Yesterday we had my grandmother's birthday party, where we went to a museum and then out to lunch. Katie used the potty at both places; she told someone before she had to go, waited until we got to the bathroom, and went. During lunch, she had her first poop success! Now she is capable of telling us before she poops, hooray! For me, I consider this "potty trained." I'll switch her to underwear when we get home, and now we'll just be working on consistency. So I can say that it took 85 days to potty train her. What a ride! That seems to be on track. Alot of the literature says that it will take 3 - 12 months.

Ellie, too, had a new first today. Well, two new firsts. We were driving in the car and she was crying. My husband pulled over into a parking lot, and I let her pee by the bushes. Then she was better. The other new first was pooping in a public bathroom. I've now figured out how to just move part of her diaper so that I don't have to take it all the way off to let her go. That will make life much easier when we're out and about. Sitting in the potty chair is still far preferable to her (can't blame her) but she is willing to go when we're out as well.

New territory

Allowing Katie to call the shots for potty-time is a new experience. I'm slowly building up trust. She's been doing very well for pee, but not so well for poop. I've really given all control over to her. Over the last few days, she's gotten all of the awake pees but only 1 of four poops. The only reason she got that one was because I saw "the look" and was able to startle her sufficiently so that she waited.

I'm so excited to get her out of pull-ups and into real underwear, but it's not going to happen until she can be consistent about poops, too. Poops especially.

Ellie, too, has been doing very well over the past few days. The only "misses" we've had with her are when she's sleeping or when other people are holding her. She seems to have gotten better both at holding it and at telling me she has to go.

Travel successes

We had a really long trip yesterday. Both girls were fantastic. We left home at 4am. Katie got a clean pull-up right before we left, but we just stuck Ellie right in the carseat. Katie had to pee three times on the journey, twice on the airplane and once in the airport. In the airplane, she told me before she had to go, and we made it to the airplane bathroom. I just have to say that airplane bathrooms are probably the worst public bathroom to start in. For parents, anyway. It's actually probably better for the kids because the seat is so small. I wasn't sure how to do it when we got in to the bathroom. I tried to hold her above the toilet so she wouldn't have to touch anything, but she wasn't comfortable enough to go. She started getting a little hysterical, so I finally whipped out some tissues and covered the whole thing, then tried to hold her up as best I could while she peed. What an adventure. The second time was a little bit easier since we were experienced. Two successes on the airplane, hurray!

She also had to go while we were waiting on our layover. Unfortunately because of what was going on I couldn't take her right away so she wet the pull-up. But she did tell us before she went, we just took too long to get her to the bathroom. This is a major success! I can't believe it happened on today, of all days. All the literature says to expect things to be worse during stressful time, like traveling.

By accident, I only brought two diapers for Ellie. I changed one before we got on the first plane and the other at the layover. We got a new bag of diapers right away when we arrived. I tried to have her pee in the bathroom at the airport. She went a little bit, but she didn't have to go very much at that time. When we arrived, she was having pretty bad gas. I set her on a child's potty that my grandmother had, but she didn't poop until that evening when I got her on a Baby Bjorn potty. I don't know if she held it all day, or if she was just having gas without needing to go earlier.

Overall, both girls were amazing on what could have been a very stressful trip.

Back on Track

Ellie is back to pooping in the potty. Hooray for that! I've noticed that I catch fewer of her pees and poops when I'm not holding her. When I'm holding her, I get almost all of them. It makes sense. I naturally pay more attention to her when she's in my arms, and I'm sure she realizes that too. It would be interesting to see if she actually signals differently when I'm holding her than when she's, say, in her bouncer. As she grow, though, she'll spend less and less time in my arms. So we'll have to work on this.

Katie's doing just fine. She's pooped in the potty the last couple of days, and stayed dry when she was awake. We're leaving tomorrow for vacation, and then have two more trips scheduled in the next month. I'm afraid we'll have to wait until September to take it to the next level.

Big-girl underpants??

We checked out a couple of children's potty books and a DVD from the library. Today Katie decided she wanted to wear big-girl underpants. I guess that's a good thing, but it frazzles me, especially since she didn't poop today. She did great though! I made her wear a pull-up during her nap, but she stayed dry (it probably helped that I bribed her with ice cream.)

I wonder if I should ever make a conscious transition from having her sit on the potty at regulated times. It seems to work so well that I wonder if it's being incorporated into her body's schedule. Our only bogey is the poop: one, two, morning, noon, or night? It's anyone's guess!

Ellie has me a little frustrated. Since we started sitting her on the potty, she's only had a couple of poopy diapers, and those were understandable (in strange settings.) She pooped in her diaper both yesterday and today. She also pooped on the floor both days, between when I picked her up off the potty and when I put the diaper back on. I wonder what the deal is. Could this be caused by teething? She does seen in general a bit irritable and it is the right age. Or maybe she's testing the waters. Whatever it is, I hope this is a short stage.

Sundays are good days

We seem to be starting a pattern of good Sundays for Ellie. I got brave enough today to let her spend a little time without a diaper. I put a cloth diaper "doubler" under her little bum on a blanket. Unfortunately she rolled over and peed because of the pressure on her tummy. I was able to move the doubler and catch some of it, but not all of it. Stuck the blanket in the wash and a diaper on the baby. That was our five minute diaper-less fun today.

I think I feel more "in-tune" with her on Sundays, because my husband is around to help with Katie. After being able to pay more undivided attention to Ellie on Saturday, I can understand her better on Sunday. It seems to fade during the week.

Katie continues chugging along. We have a delicate balance. We can catch everything (while she is awake) if I put her on the potty after each meal. The only problem is that it takes so long and I feel badly that she has to sit there for so long. It's not that I force her to stay, but I try everything I can to convince her to. All I can say is that it's a good thing she likes books and puzzles. I just don't trust her to go when she needs to. And at this point, I don't think I should trust her. I wonder how long it will take.

Another small step

Hooray, another step forward today. Katie didn't do her usual morning poop today. When that happens, I never know when it will arrive. I was nursing Ellie when I saw Katie stop and get the funny expression on her face. I yelled, "Wait! Don't poop there!" and she ACTUALLY STOPPED! I scooped her up, (poor Ellie got a little squished), rushed to the toilet, pulled off her pull-up and plopped her down. The pull-up was clean, and she did her business in the potty. That's the first time we've successfully stopped a poop. Every other poop we've gotten in the potty was brought on by being there. I'm so happy!

I also got her to do an extra pee in the afternoon. I've been reading about infant potty training (review coming soon), and how moms often get a feeling that their little one needs to pee. So I've been trying to cue in to both my girls. I got a feeling Katie had to go. I asked her and she, of course, said no. She's never said yes, unless it will postpone bedtime. Anyway, I bribed her with candy and she agreed to go. And peed right away. I don't know if she would have held it until the next scheduled potty trip or not, but I feel good about the success.

Ellie had a funny moment today. I have generally been keeping her in disposable diapers between potty trips, but I recently got a few cloth that I'm trying out. I put her in the cloth diaper this afternoon. Maybe I just missed her signal, or maybe she just felt that something was different, but she wet in the cloth diaper. The look on her face was priceless! She was so surprised! I got a good laugh. She does a good job now, but I wonder if she'd do even better if I had her in cloth all the time.

Potty Training - Ellie Update

I really would not believe what I'm writing about my baby except that I experience it myself. My 5-month-old tells me when she needs to go to the bathroom. Not every time (or maybe I just don't pay enough attention) but most of the time.

Today was an amazing day. I put her to sleep in the same diaper I put on her after her first nap. 10 HOURS!! We went out. She took naps. She put all of her pees and poops in the potty. I'm totally blown away.

I kept her with me during church instead of putting her in the nursery. During the sermon, I recognized that she wanted to go, took her to the church bathroom, snuck her into a stall, held her a foot or so over the toilet, gave her the signal, and watched her pee into a public toilet. It was like a dream.

Potty Training - Day 57

We've been sick, and focusing on sleep instead of pottying. Not sure if you can count those days as part of training, but for the sake of continuity I will.

In general, we've been maintaining status quo. We catch the poop in the potty probably about 75% of the time (excluding the last few days when she's been sick.) We've also been getting most of the pees in the potty too, as long as we can stay on schedule.

The whole process is still entirely parent-directed. She is not taking any responsibility in the process. We're still using pull-ups. I think we may need to switch to real panties before she starts to get serious. The problem is that we're traveling a few more times this summer, and I don't think I'll be comfortable with her in panties while we're traveling.

One funny thing has been happening for quite a while, but I just got my mind around it today, due to the book I just finished (which I will review shortly.) Quite often I will find her dry after a period of sleep, only to have her wet the pull-up in the 30 seconds it takes for us to get to the bathroom. This book suggested that they will sometimes go on the way to the bathroom just because they're thinking about it. So next time I'll try just picking her up and bringing her without talking to her about it.

On a side note, today was the first day that Ellie peed in response to the "special sound" I've been making.

Potty Training - Day 38

We survived the airplane ride with the two kids, and are settling in at Grandma and Grandpa's. We have a little portable potty that we brought with us, but we were planning to buy a BabyBjorn little potty when we got here, since that's what we use at home. We used our travel potty for the evening, but neither of the girls was totally psyched about it. I'll write a review about it sometime.

So Tony went to Target to get a BabyBjörn Little Potty, but they didn't have it. Since it was 9:30 at night, He came back with the best option from there: a Circo. You can read the review, but let's just say it wasn't working for us.

So we had a little bit of a potty chair fiasco over the past 24 hours. In that short 24 hours, we had 3 poopy diapers. I KNEW that Ellie had to go last night, but she just couldn't get comfortable in the portable potty, or the Circo, or the real toilet, or the SINK. I tried everything! It was a bad night. She cried and cried, but eventually fell asleep. She finally went in her diaper this morning. Oh well.

Today Tony drove out to the Babies R Us and got the same BabyBjörn Little Potty we have at home. So we should be set from now on.

Katie actually had a nice success in the Circo - she sat down and went almost immediately. I don't think that's happened before. But I also don't think it has anything to do with the potty chair. I think it was just good timing.

Since my last post, I have come up with a way to make potty-training less mom-directed. I came up with a schedule, and my husband and I agreed on it and will hold Katie to it. We'll have her sit on the potty immediately upon waking (unless she's wet, which she's ALWAYS been, so this step is just preparation for the future), after breakfast, lunch, and dinner, for 20 minutes each time or until she goes. I think we'll have to add a poop clause, too, since this morning she peed right away and then pooped a few minutes after getting her pull-up back on.

Potty Training - Day 35

A MUCH better day. Ben and Jerry's fixed my mood last night, and I felt much better all day. I'm not sure if the day was a reflection of my mood, or if my mood was a reflection of the day. Either way, the day went wonderfully!

She was dry all morning and all afternoon! We are now focusing on being "clean and dry" instead of focusing on what she produces in the potty. I don't know what kind of difference it will make in the long run, as I'm sure she hasn't internalized it yet. She continues to roll-play constantly with her dolls, and they pee and poop in the potty. She doesn't ask them if they're clean and dry. When she does that, I'll know she's getting it.

I got some Oreos at the grocery store last night, and so far, they are the best motivator yet. I cut them in quarters for normal rewards, and offer more for bigger rewards.

On a side note, Ellie continues to pee a few times a day in the potty (maybe half of her pees, maybe less), and has consistently done all her poops there for almost a month. She tasted solid food for the first time today, and I am just so excited that I might not have to change her poopy diapers EVER!!!