Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Elimination Communication



Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Pman!

On Halloween our neighbors, and Josh, all sit outside and hand out candy to the kiddies, and not so kiddies. Josh hands out the candy because he says he loves it, but secretly I think he likes having the power to deny candy to uncostumed teenagers. Either way, while he is out there he chats and trades candy with the neighbors.


On Sunday we were hanging around the house watching football when Josh asks me when we will potty train Pman- no pun intended. I said that I was thinking we would get a potty for him when we move (in about 3 months!!!!) and really start working on it this summer when he turns two. Josh said, "TWO!!!? This SuMmER?"

I had no idea Josh felt so strongly about potty training.

Apparently he was talking to one of our neighbors who has an 11-month old daughter. The neighbor said her daughter tinkles in the potty and they are working on poo-pooing. He immediately, in a very unJosh-like way, went into panic mode at the fact that our little P was nowhere close to potty training outside of playing with toilet paper.

Josh wanted to get the training started and now.

I explained we were on track and she was a bit early and I've heard girls are a bit easier in the potty training department.

About an hour later we were trying to remember if Psizzle had a BM at any point in the day. (See you non/ not yet parents, these are the fun conversations you are missing out on...) Just as we decided, no he had not, P comes running on from the kitchen, looks me dead in the eye, grunts, turns red-faced and then laughs.

He looked right at me as he poo'ed! Such a boy!  He then went over to Josh and handed him a book, like Pman needed a little something to read as he finished up.- just. ew.

This reminds me of something I read about Blossom- you know Mikelaiaianmam Baliakananabsn. She is now an eco-friendly, tree hugging, compost heap having mommy of two boys. The article I read was about something she called Elimination Communication. It seems this is a form of potty training whereupon the child does not wear any diapers- at all- even infants- NO diapers ever. Instead, the mom and child create a sort of communication pattern awareness, so the mom can "tell" when junior needs to use the facilities. She said they use diapers, cloth, when they are in public, but at home it's free-balling style all day. I thought this was sheer madness and you would have to be smoking a lot of the good stuff to be able to deal with that much human bodily fluid...and other stuff...being all around your house as you learn to communicate with your infant about their pee schedule.

Then P proved me wrong with his previously mentioned antics- although, thankfully, he was wearing a diaper, not cloth.

I'm still putting potty training on hold for now, but I am trying to pick up on his potty cues. The poo thing, I got. How do you tell is a 16 month old needs to or is peeing?

2 comments:

Laurie said...

Hi ... actually, most Western families put diapers (cloth or disposable) on their kids in between potty/bathroom visits much or most of the time, even while at home.

We used it with our third and enjoyed it very much, were delighted to start and finish sooner than we had with traditional delayed toilet learning. It was every bit as clean and hygienic as traditional toilet training. We kept a diaper (and later training pants) on him at all times except potty time.

Here are some llnks for info and resources on the topic:
http://www.TimL.com/ipt
http://www.pottywhisperer.com

They include info for late-starters--your category ;-) We started around 17-18 months with our first two children since we didn't know about infant potty training when they were born. It was tricky to start at that age. It takes patience, practice and time. There are several tactics mentioned online via the links above.

Another option is to wait until he is around 2 when kids are supposed to magically self-train in a few days. Some do but many do not.

Minivan Lover said...

Thanks Laurie! I hope info you posted also helps some other new mommies I know. :)