We have been doing part-time EC since DS was about 5 mos old. He's 18 mos old now, and we did EC very successfully for about a month, catching all the poops in the potty and most of the pees, and this all happened just last month, and now he's happily peeing in his diaper again. He clearly knows when he's going, and sometimes he will sign to tell us. But I agree with you. At this point, I am not sure if we're still doing "EC" or if we're actually starting "potty learning". I think once your child is old enough to verbally communicate that they need to go, are going, or just went... then you've moved onto potty learning. Certainly there are a huge number of similarities between EC and potty learning, but I think of EC as more with younger babies that you wait and watch for their little signals that they're going (a grimace, a grunt, a distant far-off look...) and a potty learning child will actually tell you that they have to go. That's my understanding anyway, hope that helps.
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