Galen is 24 months old… I can’t believe how the last two years have flown by! We’re still using elimination communication with Galen, though it “looks” very different these days than it did when he was a newborn!

One of the things that prompted me to write was thinking about the recent changes in weather.

Galen has reached a point of being pretty independent with pottying – he goes and sits down on his potty when he needs to go.  We have occasional accidents with pee, but almost never with bowel movements. He gets those in the potty, except the occasional odd one that happens in the very early morning.

He’s been in underwear for outings for a few months now and has had two accidents while out in all of that time.  At home we mostly let him go bare-bottomed, though.

He doesn’t really understand how to pull pants up and down yet – he can sort of get them up but not down.  So it was much easier at home to keep him diaper and pants free… otherwise he’d sit down on the potty and go, pants and all!

But the weather is changing here, which means it’s getting colder and he needs to be wearing pants.  I’ve started putting him in undies and pants in the morning and just reminding him it’s time to take a potty break frequently.

Scott and I like to joke that Galen pees an amazing amount for such a little guy… he can get an impressive amount out just about any time he sits on the potty.  I try to remember to offer the potty every 30 minutes or so.

I help him get the pants down and he sits and does his thing.  He wasn’t fond of having undies or pants around his ankles at first, but being in underwear while out and about seems to have helped him come to tolerate it.

I’m hoping that consistent pants at home will help him realize he’s got to “hold it” and ask for help if pants are on.

We have a small potty in the van, which I find much easier to use than holding him over a big toilet – but he will also go when held over a restroom toilet.  I think his favorite potty breaks are those while out on hikes; he gets to use the “facilitrees” 😉

I have some frustrations – I wish he would ask for help more and not just wet his pants right away when he has pants on.  But since we’ve done a lot of diaper/pants free I think it’s understandable that he now has to get the concept of waiting with pants on… and pants also require help from someone else, where without them on he’s very independent.  I think it’s just a matter of time.

We had been going diaper/undie free at naptime and bedtime, but with the weather turning cold we are back to using diapers at night.  I am not one of those blessed mothers who has children that just stay dry at night… Galen still floods the bed, even if we take him to the bathroom before we go to bed at night.  To me diapers are better than cold, wet PJ’s… or leaving him without PJ’s and having an even colder, wet bed.  In the regard I think mamas and babies in the tropics are lucky 😉  We will revisit nighttime when warm nights return next year (or if his diapers start staying dry)!

All in all, I think EC’ing Galen has been a very worthwhile experience.  I think Galen will be completely dry with pants on, and probably able to pull his own pants up and down, by the time the new baby arrives late next spring… and that’s a huge bonus for me!