Let's Talk Poop!

It's been a while since i've AW'd Char and her EC'ing. Mostly because there hasn't been much to brag about. Charlotte started signing for "potty" about 8 months, but that only lasted about a month. From 9-12 months or so it felt like we were just coasting along, same-old-same-old, you know? She would grunt when she had to poop, and i would take her to the potty. Off times i would take her to pee, and she would often go, but there was no signal at all that she would go before she actually did. And we had more poop misses, too, as she sometimes wouldn't grunt at all, or only after she'd started pooping and then it's just easier to change a poopy diaper. Also, the more fully solid foods she was eating, the more often she would go. From 1-2 times a day it became more like 5. Eek!

Then around a year old, she figured out that if she grunted, i stopped what i was doing. And yes, i took her to the potty, but she figured out that if there was something she didn't want to do, she could get out of it by grunting. Nice. Like, meal times. Fingernail trimming times. When mommy isn't giving me all her attention and is, say, making my lunch for tomorrow.

So, we took a little bit of a potty vacation for a while. If she had the poop look in addition to grunting, we still went, but we didn't go every time. And eventually i found that she was usually wet right after "fake" grunting. And a few times i noticed it after i'd recently done i dipe check and she wasn't wet. And sometimes the diaper would feel warm, as if the pee had JUST come out of her warm bladder. So we ended the potty vacation.

And now it seems like she's "telling" me again that she needs to go. Primitive, yes, but still cute. She will go up to the baby gate and shake it and grunt. Or grunt then run to the baby gate and shake it. So i say, "Do you want to potty?" and she runs right to the potty (if she doesn't get distracted by her love of the stairs).

And lately, more and more, she's making it to the potty before she's either peed or pooped, and going on the potty. Now, if i had it to do all over again, i never would have allowed/encouraged the grunt to be her "cue". Sigh. But, live and learn and keep repeating the word "potty" lol.

So, i'm still in the position of really not having a clue what to do now, potty-learning-wise. At this point, she can apparently tell me she needs to go (at least some of the time, not all of the time for sure). And she can go to the potty even. But she cannot manage to pull her pants down or her diaper off by herself. And we're still using the donut insert in the regular potty instead of a little portable potty. If i have to place a wild guess, i'd say she'll be using panties or at least training diapers (we're going to use cloth instead of Pull-Ups if i have my way) within maybe 4 more months. But i'm not sure. Language-wise i think she's on target in expressive language but not ahead, and i do wonder if she's a little behind in receptive language (but she could just be a little... well, whatever the euphemism for stubborn is this week). i'm not worried about it, but if that is the case then i'm not sure she'll be ready language-wise at that point. Anyway, tips from BTDT EC'ers much appreciated.