A good week!

Again, I haven't worked on...okay, I need to come up with the right name for this. Diaper free is kind of a misnomer for us. Alaina is usually in a diaper, but I try to keep it dry as much as possible and I try to watch for cues and things like that, but she's not really "diaper free" very much. Other names for it include Elimination Communication (which is just too...I don't know...sounds like a song from a kids' show) and Natural Infant Hygiene (too hippie for me). So what is it that we're doing? Peeing the baby? That could work. Or baby potty training? It doesn't seem like training--I don't feel like I'm being trained (does any mother get trained to respond to baby's need to eat?) nor does she seem to be getting trained. Hmmm. Maybe, for us, it's just the p-pot. That's what I have all the tupperwares labeled as. So maybe we'll use that for now.

Anyway, I haven't worked on the p-pot with Alaina as much as I'd hoped, but we did have some key breakthroughs this week. We've had several catches where I just noticed her going in time to issue a cue in those moments when she's been diaperless. But then there were two times when we had catches because I noticed her cue. I was nursing her and she got all squirmy so I unlatched her and undressed her and held her over the pot and she went right away!

She's also starting to recognize the cues I give her: one of them is a whistling "sssss" sound and the other is just the position I hold her in. One morning I was changing her diaper and I could tell she'd gone not too long ago because the diaper was pretty full and quite warm. But I thought I'd try anyway, so I held her "in position" and gave her the "ssss" cue and she got all still for a few seconds and then she went! Not much, but some. So I could tell that she recognized the cue to go. And it showed that she does have some bladder control.

We've also had some poop catches. Once, I almost caught it, but I second guessed myself. I didn't think I could make it in time, but then I changed my mind and decided to try anyway. I caught some of it and realized that if I had taken her when it first crossed my mind, I probably would have caught all of it. This morning, she had a big squirt, so I hurried to clean that up so I could get her in position and try to catch the rest. This time I was quick enough to clean her up and catch the rest with her in position, wheras I usually have to catch the rest in some really awkward in-between position.

The realization I came to today is that I might have some luck, now that she's responding to my cues, if I set the schedule instead of trying to adopt hers. If I take her at regular times throughout the day, and they are often enough, then she might just adjust to going whenever I provide the p-pot rather than me trying to observe her schedule and provide the p-pot in time. I'm not sure how often I'll have to take her, but I was thinking to start, take her before or after every feeding (I'm not sure which would be best; on the one hand, she'll be hungry and crying and on the other, she'll get woken up) and once or twice in between. So that's the goal for this week and we'll see what happens!