On Friday, I held my boy in the “cradle hold” over the toilet and he peed into it. Twice.
Well, to be totally honest, the second time it happened I was watching his face (and he doesn’t really know how to aim) so it kinda landed on my leg, but I’m still counting it.
How did I know when to do that? I had noticed (as had various grandparents) that our boy sometimes goes through two to three diapers in rapid succession. Change him, and you’ve gotta change him again. Really? Yes.
So I took a couple of shots after diaper changes. And it worked. Heady stuff.
Must. Have. More. Catches.
A “catch” is also when you witness your baby in the midst of eliminating, and you communicate the cue sound. I’ve done a few of those this week too. Because, again, who doesn’t pee while on the changing table, just as or after the wet diaper has been removed?
“Pssssssssss,” I tell him.
He just looks at me, or the ceiling. So far.
The EC folks say that you will begin to track his cues, things he does just before, muscle spasms, faces he makes, sounds (in addition to recognizing his timing) — thus there will be communication; me reading his cues, me cueing him with sound.
They also say you can begin to develop a psychic sense of when he needs to pee or poo. It sounds odd, but I’ve had a couple of those moments with him this week too. Hmmmmm.
I’m not ready to have him go commando all day (although I’m sure he’d enjoy it). And I don’t know if I’m ready for those split pants and all the other gear EC parents need. For now, though, I’m doing something towards having my baby out of diapers before he’s three, and that feels good.
Plus, my baby is a baby that cries the minute he is wet, almost always, so diaper-free anytime is probably going to make him happier too.
I have *heard* although I don’t if there’s research to prove it, that the late diaper training is all about disposable diapers that keep the kid super dry. They aren’t uncomfortable so why bother potty training?
Supposedly if they’re in wet cloth diapers, they potty train earlier. They can feel that they’re wet!
Hence the late potty training in this country in the last couple of decades. Kids used to train in their twos.
I have a kid I still have to watch for “signs.” Most times he will go on his own but occasionally he will try to hold it in because he doesn’t want to use the toilet in a stranger’s house, or when there are guests at our house, or at school where the potties are gross. I’ll see him making his blank face – it’s just an expression he has – and I whisk him off to the toilet.
Good luck with all this.
Yeah, I am more of the 39 months and am admittely lazy. You have far more patience than I. Good luck with it all!! p.s. is he cute or WHAT?!
I had my oldest in cloth diapers exclusively for his first two years of life, but it still wasn’t until 36 months that he eventually potty trained. We had gotten him started at 18 months and he was always back and forth on his interest in potty training until I finally just refused to put diapers on him.
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