elimination communication

alright, it's a really unusual and intimidating adventure, but i'm still trying.

for those of you who don't know (and a lot of people don't, so don't feel bad!), elimination communication is a worldwide, ancient practice of understanding your babies *GASP!* in particular, when they need to go potty. now, when i was pregnant with grace, there were a few things i swore i would atleast try: breastfeeding, cloth diapering, and elimination communication.

in the beginning, it was definitely easier to tell when she needed to go. being less active and less talkative, it's easier to pick up on the grunts, weird faces, and blank stares. nowadays, all those things seem to be relatively constant. i usually took grace to the potty after she woke up from a nap, before the diaper change, and just waited to see. for the few times we did this, it seems like she went almost every time.

needless to say, while i enjoyed watching her go potty, i was not at all consistent about it. now she's ten months old, and i am hoping to give her a chance at using the potty. after all, her poops are relatively predictable. pee, on the other hand, remains quite the mystery to me.

needless to say, we've had two pees in the potty today. no poop yet, because it was one of the few "unpredictable" early morning poops. i should've expected it, from what i fed her last night, but didn't (so those wool longies got a bath this morning...) after her morning nap, i figured i would just TRY to see what she did. it took about ten minutes, but i was pleasantly surprised to see her go pee! i tried again after this afternoon nap, and again, it took about ten minutes of us sitting, hanging out, and babbling away when i was pleasantly surprised with another pee!

so, if nothing else, we're starting the process of learning each other. i have no concept of her current "pee" signals --- her personality doesn't seem to change and she doesn't really make weird faces. i guess the only thing i can really go by at this point is timing. we'll see where this goes.

yay for babies!