Beginner's Luck?

[physmom]

We've just recently started EC when DD was about 9.5 months old. She just turned 10 months and it's, well, amazing!!

I have to same I'm pretty shocked at our success. She'll go on the potty about 5 times per day, and always asks (she'll either sign potty, run to the bathroom and bang on it, or point at the bathroom) as long as she's not too busy playing. We've also caught almost all her poops.

So is this just beginner's luck? Or did I inadvertently discover the perfect age for potty learning?

Also, two other questions:
At what age can I expect her to be able to go to the potty on her own i.e. remove her diaper and sit there by herself?

What do you do when you're not at home? We go to the park a lot and there's no toilets nearby. I haven't even attempted EC when we're not at home yet due to the lack of available toilets where we live. What does everybody else do?

Thanks already!!

[sapphire_chan]

Um....:
It's a bit early to do any testing, but you might want to start reading around the Gifted forum. With communication skills like those, you're probably going to want to need the resources in there.

Which is all awesome for you. So what I'd do now is put her in undies, or nothing, when you're at home, and some sort of waterproof, pull-down, trainer when you're out and about. Or not that waterproof and a pair of fleecy pants if you don't mind carrying around a change of pants or two on your outings.

At the park, find a tree . I keep one of our potties in the car, too.

Anyway, I feel a bit silly giving advice to someone who is having more success, but maybe the tips will make your life a bit easier.

Oh, and it might be awhile before she can get onto the potty alone. Even the bblps (baby bjorn little potties) are kind of tall. It is possible that you could show her how to do it and it's worth a shot. Maybe put a waterproof mat under the potty since peeing next to it is fairly common?

[Lia & Eva's Mama]

Congrats!! tHat's awesome!!
When out at the park...you just kinda move toward some trees or bushes and pee her quickly.
I found that diapers 3 sizes larger were great for pulling up and down. without paying for pull ups..we did cloth at home and sposies for outings.
At the mall or outing, be sure to pee before and after arrival departure.
Both my girls were exactly 2 when they learned to pull down pants and go solo...my youngest may have been younger...not sure i'd have to look it up.

But....EC is very up and down..one week great and second week not so bad third week its not a catch in sight. by week 4 its usually back up to every catch. Up and down till they finally fully grasp the concept.

Sorry for rambling, But again that's awesome that its going great!!

[hrsmom]

That is very cool! Time will tell if it's beginner's luck or not! I know someone who tells me her daughter potty trained herself at 9 months, she just didn't like being wet. So some kids are very aware very early and have a preference for being dry! Like the pp said, EC is usally very up and down, up and down, up and down.... All kinds of things are going to happen over the next several months, and there will be misses. Taking off clothes to go potty does come at a later stage. My dd could take off her diaper herself around 11-13 months (don't remember) but she didn't take it off to pee, just took it off because she wanted it off. Now she sometimes take herself potty, and I like to leave her nakey so she doesn't have to mess with clothes.

Enjoy!!!

[physmom]

Well, today was another good day. We only had 2 misses! One of which was when my mom was babysitting her. Otherwise she was dry all day.

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

Um....:
It's a bit early to do any testing, but you might want to start reading around the Gifted forum. With communication skills like those, you're probably going to want to need the resources in there.

Our pediatrician has also mentioned this , I guess we'll see!

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

Which is all awesome for you. So what I'd do now is put her in undies, or nothing, when you're at home, and some sort of waterproof, pull-down, trainer when you're out and about. Or not that waterproof and a pair of fleecy pants if you don't mind carrying around a change of pants or two on your outings.

Hmm... we do have some undies already that were given as gifts. I wonder if I'm brave enough?

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

At the park, find a tree . I keep one of our potties in the car, too.

I'm pretty new to the whole mom world. Is this pretty normal for most people? Can me get in trouble or anything do that?

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

Anyway, I feel a bit silly giving advice to someone who is having more success, but maybe the tips will make your life a bit easier.

Oh, and it might be awhile before she can get onto the potty alone. Even the bblps (baby bjorn little potties) are kind of tall. It is possible that you could show her how to do it and it's worth a shot. Maybe put a waterproof mat under the potty since peeing next to it is fairly common?

Thanks for the tips, I appreciate them! She's definitely working on sitting on it by herself. She can already get into her bumbo and she's pretty close to sitting on her baby bjoern by herself, but the diapers the tricky part... She does, for some reason, try and take off her shirt sometimes when she has to pee????

[physmom]

Originally Posted by Lia & Eva's Mama

Congrats!! tHat's awesome!!
When out at the park...you just kinda move toward some trees or bushes and pee her quickly.
I found that diapers 3 sizes larger were great for pulling up and down. without paying for pull ups..we did cloth at home and sposies for outings.
At the mall or outing, be sure to pee before and after arrival departure.
Both my girls were exactly 2 when they learned to pull down pants and go solo...my youngest may have been younger...not sure i'd have to look it up.

But....EC is very up and down..one week great and second week not so bad third week its not a catch in sight. by week 4 its usually back up to every catch. Up and down till they finally fully grasp the concept.

Sorry for rambling, But again that's awesome that its going great!!

We're also doing both cloth and sposies (sposies at night). She seems to HATE sposies and will go to the potty more often in them. Is this normal?

Thanks for the heads up on the ups and downs!

[physmom]

Originally Posted by hrsmom

That is very cool! Time will tell if it's beginner's luck or not! I know someone who tells me her daughter potty trained herself at 9 months, she just didn't like being wet. So some kids are very aware very early and have a preference for being dry! Like the pp said, EC is usally very up and down, up and down, up and down.... All kinds of things are going to happen over the next several months, and there will be misses. Taking off clothes to go potty does come at a later stage. My dd could take off her diaper herself around 11-13 months (don't remember) but she didn't take it off to pee, just took it off because she wanted it off. Now she sometimes take herself potty, and I like to leave her nakey so she doesn't have to mess with clothes.

Enjoy!!!

That's interesting about the 9 month old. My mom claims I was potty trained at 1 year, so maybe it's inherited?

Oh, 11 months would be nice!

[pixiepunk]

we find that nakey butt at home when misses are infrequent is the easiest so that she can get onto the potty by herself. is your LO walking? mine wasn't able to reliably sit on the potty by herself until she was pretty coordinated with walking, which for her wasn't till around 13 months or so.
(started walking at 11 mo). we switched full-time to cloth trainers veyr early on (like around 4 months old) because i found they were so much easier to get up and down, especially when on the go. so that might be something you want to consider. and my LO has always hated diapers, especially sposies (which she's only ever worn like 3x while traveling). it is wonderful that your LO has that awareness, it definitely makes EC loads easier!

for the park, we also sometimes find a tree. but since i have to drive pretty much everywhere due to living in the boonies, we always have a little potty in the trunk of the car and mostly just use that when we're out and about. either with a prefold inside to absorb the pee or i'll dump it in the grass when we're done (if anyone ever says anything, i remind them that people let their dogs pee on trees/in the grass all the time, not to mention neighborhood cats, squirrels and deer and everything else)

there are definitely windows of awareness with LO's, and it sounds like you hit on one. that is almost the exact same age that i started with my oldest, and it was because she hated being wet so much and was so interested when i went to the bathroom. i did some internet searches for early PL'ing and discovered EC

as others have said, it is possible that the novelty will wear off a little for your LO and you might begin to have more misses. but then again maybe not. only time will tell. but milestones like walking and talking and cutting teeth will sometimes disrupt their interest temporarily. so don't worry if it does. usually they get right back on track as soon as the distraction is over.