So…EC

I figured we’d start out easy, try it on for size. We’d still do diapers. As appealing as having him be completely naked was, it’s still cold and I wasn’t confident that our apartment wouldn’t end up covered in piss and shit. So I got a potty and figured I’d focus on the time we hang out in the living room.

Naturally, that’s not what actually happened. The living room proved too complicated for me, so we stuck to hanging out in his nursery. We had a rough start. The first attempt resulted in crying and poop everywhere. I decided to pause on using the potty in the middle of feeds.

To ease him into it, I started having him sit on the potty with his pre-fold on and talking him through it. It is about communication, after all. That resulted in less crying. He seemed to get comfortable on the potty and respond to cueing. I also took him with me to the bathroom when I went, and he soiled his diaper every time.

By the fourth day, I was feeling it. I had more catches than misses. We figured out how to manage during feeds, and I got pretty good at catching poops. Pees were another story. He wasn’t as good at cueing those and even when I caught them, it turns out it’s quite the trick to manage the flow from a penis. By this point, though, even my husband was on board and caught a pee himself!

It’s pretty much the norm now. We’ve even had a few dry naps (and other adventures to be described later), and he really seems to love it. He’s so pleased with himself after using the potty successfully. There are days when I want to take it easy, but he insists on using the potty over his diaper. What a kid.

Doing EC reinforces my sense that parenting is just a series of situations where you have to go with your gut. If it comes naturally, it’s right for you, but don’t force anything. You can only ever affect the moment you are in, so the best you can do is whatever’s best in that moment. It’s all you can do, and after a while of doing that in every moment, a pattern you like emerges. You’ll find that you have more catches than misses. And that’s really all you can ask for.