Day 61

Surprisingly this weekend turned out to be rather successful with EC. Not much new to report so I'll take a trip down 'memory' lane for those of you who are new followers to this blog.

Joe and I decided to begin EC when Annie was about 11 weeks old. At first we were very overwhelmed but read Diaper Free by Ingrid Bauer and got our start. To start using the cue words of "pee pee" and "poo poo" I kept Annie without a diaper for the first few mornings of practice. After she would eat I would sit with her real close to me and notice when she started to pee or poop. I would notice her squirming or fussing when this happened and got to know her signal. Then, as I started to learn her signal I would hold her over her potty (at that time it was a cool whip container) and say the cue words. Eventually our timing would be right and she would pee or poop while we said the cue words. After many days of this, Annie started to understand what it meant to be held in a certain position (squatting) with simultaneously saying the cue word... she would pee (or poop). This is how we got our start using the cue words and positioning.
After a few weeks of this, Annie seemed to understand how wonderful it was to have a dry diaper and that we were paying attention to her elimination signals (thus the term elimination communication). It didn't take long for her to put it all together and to release her bladder/bowel muscles upon hearing the cue word. Now, there are moments when a potty is not readily available to us and one of us has to say the cue word to 'allow' Annie to use her diaper. She is trying hard to keep herself dry... but at four months she's at our mercy.
Of course we have our days when we're slow or tired and EC doesn't go as planned. Call us crazy, nuts, strange, or just plain out of our minds... but we are enjoying this adventure and hope you will continue to join us on our journey.

Stay tuned!



Today I learned: I need to travel down memory lane more often... especially so everyone knows how we started EC.
Diapers saved today =5
Money saved today = $1.00
Money saved to date = $78.40