EC: Who, me?

It seems like if you tried to put me in a "crunchy mama" box, I'd pretty much fit.
"Natural Parenting," "Attachment Parenting," whatever labels you want to put on me or the way we do things doesn't matter to me. We do what works for us- I mommy my way. Well- at least with all this "baby" stuff.
When it comes to parenting, which I haven't had to do too much of yet, I pray that "my way" will be based on God's way,

But, for now, I've got a little baby who needs to be loved and bonded with in our own special way.
And it turns out our way happens to align with the ways of many other "crunchy mamas" out there.
Most of these things I wanted to do and had started doing before I ever had heard of the term "natural parenting" or whatnot. These things just came to me naturally and seemed like the best way to do things for us. It should go without saying that these things do not necessarily work for every mama out there, but for the sake of being PC and not offending anyone, I said it anyway. :)

Cosleeping? Check.
Exclusive breastfeeding? Check.
Cloth diapering? Check.
No/Delayed vaccinations? Check.
Intact little guy? Check.
Babyled Weaning? Check.

But, there was one thing I had heard of before even being pregnant that I thought was a little...well...crazy.
Elimination Communication.
When I first read that somewhere, I remember thinking elimi-what?!
I googled it and found out that elimination communication is basically helping your baby (BABY!!) go potty and poo-poo in the toilet. Wow!! I remember thinking, "This is so cool. But it just might be too weird for even me to try." So, when the time came for me to have a baby of my own, I didn't try it.
I thought about it.
Often.
I remember saying things like, "How could that ever work? He poops and pees ALL. DAY. LONG" (as a newborn).
But, alas, now I have a 7-month old on my hands (almost 8 in a few days!) and it is very apparent when he has to poop. So, one day last week, when I saw his poop-face, I thought, "What the heck, let's try this." I took off his diaper, took him up to the toilet, made a few grunting noises to help him along, and what do you know, doggone it, he pooped in the toilet! It was awesome!!!

This past week he has pooped in the toilet at least once a day, and some days he's done it more than once.
Like I've read in some other blogs, as a mom, you really do get a high from it!
It's so fun!
It's like a challenge being conquered and I feel so proud of my little guy for doing it just like they said he would! ("They" being other bloggers and EC experts out there).

So, last night after I put my little guy to bed, I did some more research. I was wondering how I could do this with potty, not just poop. I read that to start EC just part time (which I think might be all I'm up for, for now, we'll see), just try seeing if he'll go when he wakes up each morning and after naps. So, this morning, when he woke up, I took him to his changing table, took off his dipe, took him to the toilet and made the "pssssss" sound that I read about, and wouldn't you know it, my 7-month old peed in the toilet.
Jiminy cricket -this is amazing!!
I squealed with joy and commended him for doing a "good job," though I suppose he was just doing what came natural to him.
Nonetheless, I'm hooked.
We're going to keep trying this and see what comes of it.
This just might lessen the diaper loads I need to wash, which would be great!
(Although I do have a slight addiction to laundry and particularly LOVE washing/drying/piling up clean diapers, it would be good for the environment and our water bill if that slowed down a bit).

Anyway! I'll consider this my first installment of EC posts, because I'm sure there will be more to come!

 

Back lounging in bed with me as I blog after our first morning potty!

P.S.- Okay, sis-in-law, I think you can officially call me "weird." I might even agree with you. :)