the inefficiency of 'knock on wood'

Yeah, so the whole diaper-free days lasted all of a short week (after I wrote that last post she took most naps as well as went outside a couple times without a diaper - basically as long as she had gone pee right before).

Yesterday and today Eliana peed off the potty twice each day...at least once (first time) because she was too focused on something (I think), and then the other times just testing out seeing how long she can hold it (I think), because both days, after that first time, she told me repeatedly she had to go to the bathroom, we'd go, she'd sit down on the potty and a second or 20 later get up and say 'jije' (finished), without actually going. Sometimes she's say she needed to pee only two or five minutes later, and then do the same thing, all the way until she peed on the floor/chair.

Yesterday after dinner, a few minutes after she went on the floor in the kitchen ('uhoh-uhoh' she says to me as she and pointed and she walked away), I hear her go into the bath-room (not WC) and close the door. I assumed she had gone in there to play with water in the little foot-sink that is perfect height for her, and planned on finishing washing up the last few dishes before going in to her. Judge had seen her walk over to that area of the hallway but didn't see her so opened the door to see if she had gone into the bath-room, and there she was, sitting on the potty, eagerly tapping the screen of his phone (!!) while finishing up a 'number two'. Ha.

Anyhow, this afternoon, after the second time peeing not-on-the-potty today, I told her I was going to help her put a diaper and her onesie on (the onesie so that she can't take her diaper off - as she prefers running around the house naked), since she was not peeing on the potty. When she chooses to pee on the potty every time again then she can not wear a diaper again too if she wants. She was none too happy about this. Like kick-and-wriggle-and-scream-but-want-to-do-so-in-my-arms non-happy. After a good 10 minutes she signed she wanted to nurse, and fell promptly asleep...at 4:25pm. Ay.

So I think that is that for now. We'll go a few days avec diaper 100% of the time, unless she negotiates otherwise.

[Hanging upsidedown as I am trying to get a clear picture of her extra tooth that just started showing itself recently - previously her first left upper lateral inciser was extra slim, and there was a small empty spot between it and her central inciser...now she has a second one growing in that empty space. Googled extra teeth and it seems to be rare but no biggy.]

 

 

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diaper-free days (at almost 18 months)

This time around I've done EC super differently than last, leaving it no-stress. With Leona, I tried to give her diaper-free time often (not bare-bum, just no diaper), especially after she turned 18 months old, to try and get her completely diaper-free during the 'golden window', and though I didn't get frustrated with her choice to pee in her pants, it wasn't a party having to change her several times a day - and I don't think it could have been great fun for her either, looking back. I also think us doing travels and having big life-upheavals played a big role in her going from consistently using the potty to not, two or three times.

Anyhow, this time, initially because we lived in houses where it wasn't convenient to have to clean pee off of carpeted floors and non-leather couches I did the whole EC thing the same, but just 100% diapered.

That means I would take Eliana to the potty whenever she signed she needed to go, as well as take her when I thought she needed to go - and then either she would go, just sit, or clearly show she didn't want anything to do with the bathroom right then and we'd go do something else.

A few months ago Eliana started really resisting wearing a diaper, but I told her that because she still used (i.e., went pee and poop) her diaper sometimes, she still needed to have it on.

Now, Eliana's pretty much had dry diapers after sleeps for a couple months or more already, as well as gone on the potty/toilet most of the time, just 2-4 times in the diaper a day. After taking a shower though, when she'd run naked out to Judge to get her diaper and clothes on, she'd usually happily take the opportunity to pee a tiny bit, gleefully telling us immediately afterward.

But that stopped happening, and last Friday or Saturday I just stopped putting a diaper on her during the day.

We don't leave the house really, and when we have, e.g., visited the kindergarten once, she told me she had to pee - other than that we haven't been gone long enough for the need to arise. That being said, I foresee us still using a diaper if (when) we go out, just because of the layers upon layers upon layers of clothes she needs to wear, and the cold, thus making it inconvenient to christen neighbors' lawns etc.

I am toying with the idea of not having a diaper on for sleeps, but think that for now, as she hasn't requested/demanded to be diaper-free then too, that it is easier...just in case. A wet diaper is much easier to deal with than changing sheets.

The key during this period is to be aware of her regular body-schedule as well as her timing - e.g., if it's been a while since last time, ask her if she needs to go. She's not yet at the stage where she automatically answers 'no' to questions, and so asking, rather than saying 'let's go', works perfectly.

Four days in and not a single accident - knock-on-wood.

[It's finally (?) snowed here, and rather than jumping up and down with excitement, itching to go outside and play, the girls ran and got this bin for me to fill up. I agree - much less cumbersome clothes and it not being cold makes a big difference in the enjoyment ... so not-Norwegian of us.]

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say it like it is (3y7.5m)

Today, Eliana gave me a kiss after which Leona did as well.

Leona: "We all smell different, Eliana smells different, I smell different, you smell different. You smell like poop."

I immediately went and brushed my teeth.

 

 

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Eliana's current vocab (~1.5y)

Eliana's current spoken vocab is at about 30 words. She, like Leona did, economizes on several of them, as you will see below.

• u'oh (u'oh...ooops)
• nanana/nana (Leona and Eliana)
• moh (move and more)
• da-g'n (tracktor and truck and now also sometimes Totoro, which can either mean Totoro or that she wants to watch videos or look at pictures on the computer or the phone)
• bebeh (baby)
• bah or boh (bird and boat and book and bike)
• gah (car)
• bah boh (bubble and diaper)
• bm bm (balloon and Ole Brumm - Whinny the Poo in Norwegian)
• beh doh (play dough)
• jije (finished - where the j is a soft one...not y, but like in Bahji)
• ji (see - as in 'i wanna see' or 'look at this')
• nano (no more, and milk in Chinese)
• a-oo (hello)
• yayaya (takk for maten [thank you for the food - a phrase one says in Norway when one is finished eating; Eliana will not stop saying it until both Judge and I have said 'velbekomme' (you're welcome)])
• gæ gah goh (vær så god - you're welcome, in general terms)

For the last two she uses the correct inflection, of course.

And of course she still has the ones from before:

• mama
• papa/baba
• momo (mormor)
• no
• yah
• nah (good night)
• hah (hot)
• koh (cold)
• ah'oo (owl)

She gives kisses that are often lean-in air-kisses, saying 'mmmmah', and she still uses sounds and signs a lot of animals, as well as eat, water, bath, paint, sleep, pee, poop and fart.

Speaking of pee and poop, she currently goes on the potty by own initiation or by me asking about 90% of the time (of course, now that I wrote this it will all change, as did our routine and sleep issues almost immediately after I wrote about them).

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In other news, I suddenly found out, by utter accident, how to make this really wonderfully warm and wind-protective had work so it doesn't constantly fall down in her face. Here, Leona is sporting the "I can't see anything" look back in the day, while below Eliana is sporting the new method:

 

 

 

 

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