Week 56: February 4 - 10

This was a very fun week. SuSu came for a visit!

EC: ELIMINATION COMMUNICATION
You all know that Matt and I have done a few things differently with Madeleine. Cloth diapers, baby-led weaning. Why not do something unconventional with potty training? Though, in reality, this isn't "potty training." Elimination Communication is a way to help Madeleine become aware of her eliminations (pees and poops!) again.

The theory is that when babies are born, they are born with the ability to know when they have to poop or pee. They give signs so that the parents can do something about it. We train babies to go in diapers; they don't want to soil themselves, but they're helpless to do otherwise. But if the parents choose, they can learn those signs and take the baby to a potty or other receptacle, thus allowing the baby to retain his or her body awareness. When the baby is older, she will be able to communicate, by sign language or other means, when she needs to go potty. Mommy or daddy then takes her, gets her set, and she goes.

The goal of EC is NOT potty training, though these babies are often out of diapers much sooner than the average child in the US. Not always, but often. Even if they don't get out of diapers early, the transition is much smoother. Babies don't have to relearn how to tell they have to use the potty.

I went to a meeting a couple of weeks ago where there was a baby, maybe 15 months old, who hadn't worn a diaper since she was 2 months old! Talk about money savings, if nothing else.

Parents can start EC at any time with their babies, but Madeleine would be a super late start. The book I read said that she has probably lost all capacity to sense when she needs to go or even when she goes. (Pee, at least) We'd be starting from scratch, but I believe the outcome is worth it.

To begin with, I need to observe her to see how often she goes, see what, if any, signs she gives for when she has to go. I set up a big blanket over the rug in her room, covered by a bunch of smaller blankets that I can replace if they get messed up. Madeleine got no diaper but we put pants on her. So I just watched to see if and when she peed. In her first awake period, she peed three times. I actually noticed all three times. I saw her get a potty face, then she peed seconds later. The first time, I was able to "cue" her, which is to make a noise while she pees so that she figures out what's going on. The other times were too quick. But it was a good start. :)

THE CONE
I remember in the "Wonder Weeks" book that after one of the leaps, babies would gain the ability to put together, to build and not just tear down. We've always called Madeleine the Unmaker, but this week, she started doing some building. I thought a few weeks ago that she was trying to put blocks on top of each other, but she never had any luck. Then she tried to put shape pieces in the shape box, again with no luck.

THIS WEEK. Madeleine put pieces of her stacking cone together. It's made of two layers, interior and exterior, of rings that fit together to make a cone. This week, she put some of the interior pieces together--by together, I mean putting one inside another. The interior pieces are hollow cylinders that fit together by putting the small one inside the bigger one.

She also likes putting the larger, exterior rings around her wrist.

TOMATO
One day during Madeleine's bath, she plucked a tomato off the kitchen counter. It still had a long stem on it, so it was easy for little hands to grab. She pulled it into the bathwater with her and pushed it under with both hands. I tried to take it from her, but she didn't like that, and SuSu said it was okay, as it was her tomato. I continued bathing her. When it came time to lay baby down to rinse her hair, I had to take the tomato away, at least temporarily. She'd been scratching at the skin and flesh while holding it under the water!

So, oh well, moving on. I lay Madeleine down, but she wanted her tomato back. I let her have it back, and she promptly took a bite out of it! Just like an apple, which we've never given her whole. I thought it was pretty amusing.

NAP FUN
According to a number of sleep books, babies go from 2 naps a day down to 1 nap a day sometime in the 13-20 month-old range. We think Madeleine, who is just barely under 13 months, may be starting this process. She's been taking a long time to fall asleep for her afternoon nap for most days this week, and she completely skipped a few of those naps. We just put her to bed super early so she'll be able to get enough sleep in the 24-hour day.

I'm still not completely sure that's what's going on, but this is what she did when she dropped a nap last time. She short-napped all of her naps until we got with the program and figured it out. It was hard at firs--she got tired quickly--but it didn't take too long for it to smooth out. It's been about 6 months since she went from 3 naps to 2. That's a long time to go with no changes in sleep habits.

We are excited about the prospect of only one nap, but also a bit wary as well. At least I am. Wary. Anyway, we're excited because whenever we need to go out, we won't be so pressed for time to get everything done. We'll be able to go on longer outings. BUT, I'm a little concerned about having time to get things done, like work. I can do things around the house easily enough, but when I work, I tend to sit and block out everything else. Can't really do that with a baby! But we'll just take it one day at a time, see how it goes. I'm sure it will all be just fine.

OH, one last fun note under naps. One day this week, Matt put Madeleine down for her afternoon nap because I had to be somewhere. He kept looking at the monitor, remarking to himself about how well she was walking around in her crib. He couldn't recall ever seeing her do it that well, but then, he doesn't sit and watch the screen the way I do. I'm sure he chalked it up to that.

Well, when it came time to get her up (she didn't sleep a wink for this nap), Matt got quite a surprise! Madeleine had taken off her pants AND diaper and was just as pleased as could be about the situation!! He called me in to see, and all I could do was laugh. He'd forgotten to put her in the sleep sack, so her pants and diaper were easy access. What a funny baby!

LITTLE THINGS
Madeleine "learned" to clap on Saturday! She was in her high chair, eating. For some reason, she pulled her arms apart and brought her hands together in a slow clap. Then I clapped a few times, and she copied me. It was great! That night, we saw her clapping in her bed via the monitor!

We changed Madeleine's crib sheet to one with birds on it, and she pointed to them, making a little "uhh uhh" noise.

Baby has long loved her shoes, and it's one of her words that's really stuck. This week, she put her hands into the shoes. It was adorable.

I'm pretty sure Madeleine is getting some new teeth. She's been super drooly, and this week she's started kinda gnawing on her fingers. Looks like she's sucking her thumb, but she is definitely not. I checked her mouth, and it's the next two on the top. She's about to have 10, half of all her baby teeth. BABY!

One night while putting Madeleine down for bed, I thought baby was really warm. So I blew on the back of her neck to try and cool her. Then I blew in her face a little, and she grinned really big. So I kept blowing a little, and she started blowing too! It was super cute. Now we blow at each other every now and then. She makes an awesome face, looks so pleased with herself. :)

SLIDESHOW
I do apologize for the lack of pictures for this week. I ended up only taking pics on 3 of the 7 days, and 1 of those days the pics are mostly blurry. :/