We've been doing EC for about 4 months now.
Yesterday Natasha started saying, "Pppppp....pppppp" to indicate that she needs to poo, or that she already has. Amazing.
Her first words were "Mama." Then "DaDa," and "All Duh (all done)." Now "ppppppp."
It's been a pretty neat ride, though not without some work and perhaps some angst thrown in for good measure. We went through a stage where I was trying to catch every single pee and poo, and that was very tiring for everyone. Her bladder is just too small; she had to go so often.
When we went into escrow on the house, we started using disposables more and more. Now we're on them full-time to make life a little easier because of our upcoming renovation and move.
I would say that the one thing that I have learned in the last few months is that EC does not have to be an "all or nothing" endeavor. You can definitely do it part-time and it still works. I used to fear that doing it part-time meant that I would be confusing Natasha - she would not have a consistent direction from me whether I wanted her to pee in the potty or in a diaper. Now I see that it's not like that at all.
Honestly I do not have time to take her to the potty every single time. So when I have time, I take her; and when I don't have time, well...that's what the diaper is there for. My part-time EC aims at doing the "easy" catches: first thing in the morning, before naps, for all her poos (she's pretty predictable, plus she'll make grunting noises and I take her immediately to the potty), and after coming out of the carrier (she'll hold it, not wanting to pee on me and all). It's a reasonable schedule and I'm happy so far. The most important things to me are that she is aware of her bodily functions, that she is learning to communicate about them consciously, that she is accustomed to pooping and peeing on the potty.
Once she reaches 1 year old, I think perhaps I will go back to cloth diapers...hopefully we'll have moved in and settled down in the new house by then.
Thankful for:
-Closing escrow today!!!! God has been so good and faithful.
-Giggling with the girls while kicking a ball around in the apartment parking garage
-30 free boxes, getting ready to box up our stuff
-family, who gave so open-handedly for our needs, money for a fridge, buying a garden hose for us, etc.
