Day ONE

This morning Annie and I got up, and started elimination communication (EC). Annie spit up all over herself so a bath was in order. During the bath she peed. PERFECT time to introduce the cue word for pee: "peepee." (We're so creative!) I bet you'll never guess the cue word for poop ;) Then the day really began. I realized that Annie's communication was a little whining followed by some staring and then grunts. Once I saw this I took her to the was receptacle (cool whip container) and used the cue word. We keep our receptacle in the bathroom to help her associate pee/poop with the bathroom***
*** Be sure to move your husband's hairbrush and razor first, like men, infants don't have great aim and tend to miss the waste receptacle, nothing like a good pee shave and sweet scent of urine in your hair! :) ***

She peed in the container 5 times today. And guess what?! I haven't changed a poopy diaper ALL day! 4 poops in the 'potty' and she is a HAPPY GIRL!

We've almost been doing EC for 12 hours and it already seems to be working. Tonight I showed Joe how to read Annie's signals. To his amazement I wasn't joking. Annie was eating and 'popped off' to grunt and whine... off to the potty and she peed/pooped. Then again eating and grunt grunt and she peed in the 'potty' upon the cue word.
One thing I learned today, she's been communicating with us since birth. We just had to learn what it meant! Of course we haven't caught all the pees today, but a few is better than none. The diapers we've saved already is worth it.
My guess is she'll communicate differently with Joe than with me...we will find out over the next few days.

Time and patience are the key ingredients to successful EC. Hopefully it will save us a lot of struggle when she's two and fully independent in toileting. With anything, practice makes perfect. On we go to day TWO...this time at a family outing(New Years Eve) We are prepared for the snickering and laughs as our family joins in the amusement of potty training an 11 week old baby!

Today I learned: Annie is smarter than we thought (and we thought she was pretty smart)
Diapers saved today = 8
Money saved today = $1.60 (estimate)
Money saved to date = $1.60