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Today it was hard, though. Axel overslept last night, so his nap schedule was all out of whack this afternoon. He has been cranky, agitated, and in an all around lousy mood. The poor little guy has been falling apart.
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I thought I’d take advantage of this day and let you all know that we most certainly do have elimination communication potty training issues. It’s important that people understand that even full time ECers have their bad days. Sometimes babies just don’t want to use the potty, and that’s okay. The important thing is that we aren’t giving up, even after days like these. (Axel’s gone through 7 pairs of underwear!)
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I want this post to be encouraging for those who have an interest in elimination communication potty training, but who think that they are not cut out to do it perfectly. Truth is, no one is. It would be a lot different if we all lived outside in the nude, like we did in the beginning, but things are no longer that way. That is the main reason I am not anti-diaper, because I understand that our world isn’t how it once was. Many of the more natural practices have become not so natural, simply because we live in a completely different culture now.
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It’s really important not to get stressed out on days when you have a lot of misses. Elimination communication potty training is not about perfection. “Off” days should just give you a chance to learn more about your children, their needs, and how they communicate those needs to you. Today was a perfect learning opportunity for Patrick and I, and although days like these can be slightly discouraging, we still trust that we are doing the right thing for our family.
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I’ll give you a quick overview of how our day went today.
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We woke up, and well rested Axel used the potty without a problem. He also went two times after that easily and without fuss. Then nap time came around, but because he had overslept last night, he wasn’t ready for it. That’s when things started going downhill.
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He became more cranky as time passed. He started to flex and throw a fit every time we tried to potty him, but he would pee in his underwear a minute or two later. We decided to give him a break and relaxed on the ec for awhile. (There’s no point in trying to force your child to use the bathroom, especially if it’s just going to tick him/her off.)
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He eventually fell asleep, but because he had been refusing the potty, he had a full bladder. (We had a couple of misses before this, but Axel rarely completely empties his bladder in his underwear. He doesn’t like feeling wet.) Anyway, he ended up waking up after only an hour because he needed to use the bathroom (he wakes up to go potty, and he won’t go back to sleep if it’s during a nap). Then the cycle began all over again.
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I wouldn’t say today was a complete ec failure, as we did catch some of Axel’s pees, and his one poop. The number of misses or catches we have isn’t really important, though. This is not a game of score. Each day is going to be different. We’re very thankful that we’ve had a lot of success with this process, but we just want people to know that we still have difficulties. Regardless, we love elimination communication potty training, and we’re happy we get to practice it with Axel.
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If we can do it, you can do it too.
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