A bonus of potty training

It’s been about three weeks since we ditched the daytime diapers. By now, his using the potty is completely natural. I haven’t seen an accident since the first week. I take him out in public (though I do carry the Bjorn little potty if we’ll be gone over 1.5 hours). And I still ask frequently if he needs to go, relying on him to agree when he feels the need. It feels natural now. Similar to when I had Lasik surgery and quickly forgot what it was like to have glasses, it’s now hard to remember what it was like using diapers.

One great bonus of ditching the diapers has been that his clothes are suddenly much looser. Maybe this isn’t as much of an issue with disposables, since I think they are thinner. But the cloth diapers are pretty bulky and add a few extra inches to the butt. Without those extra inches, pants that once seemed ready to be passed along now fit loosely. We’re able to get a lot more life out of our clothes.

While he still wets during his nap and at night (and the fact that we still put him to bed with a sippy cup probably doesn’t help that), he seems to be less soaked than he used to be. After 12 hours sleep, he used to completely soak his diaper, pants and sheet. Now I can often keep the same sheet there. That’s making me think that he’s holding something back – perhaps the pee when he first wakes up, waiting for the potty instead.

It’s great to know that he is now capable of managing his needs during waking hours. I consider the elimination communication experiment to be a success and I’d do it again if we have another child. But just recently, I realized that River is only awake for 9 hours of each day. Realizing it’s only 30% of the day that he’s in control of tempers the achievement a bit. But I’m still proud of him.