Today we had a strange success with the potty. We had pee in it.
Being on a meat-free and dairy-free diet can bring it's interesting points when people ask us about it. "So what do you eat?" we hear non-stop. Uh, food. Then people look at me "So you're a vegan? Really?" Okay, yes, I'm on the pleasantly plump (but I'm not so pleasant about it!) side of life right now after having had a baby seven months ago and not losing all that weight I gained but Vegans come in all shapes and sizes. Fat, thin, average, tall and short. They're just like "normal" people. They don't go out at night to hunt their tofu.
Now, enter in One Roman Quinn into this equation and the questions get a little more "interesting." Things like; "Is Roman going to be a Vegan, too?" Well...yeah I kinda figured why not? I'm not a nutrition numpty. I know what I'm doing with this kid. It's all okay. But to be honest, why do people ask these questions? I know it's ignorance - the kind where people think it's okay to ask what the hell they like type of ignorance. I don't ask them if they're going to raise their kid eating meat and dairy (heaven forbid I do lest I wanted my head served to me on a silver platter).
So I figured if I'm going to upset a few people living my life - but let's face it, we're never going to make every one happy and would probably kill ourselves trying - why not go on and potty train Roman? To be honest my first thought wasn't to tee anyone off - far from it. I want to do this for him. It wasn't that long ago that women were hanging their 3 month olds over the commode in an attempt to "toilet train" them and the government issued leaflets on this. It was a lot more strict than my flexible and relaxed approach with the potty and I'm not too caught up on creating bad associations with anything - at least not on a conscious level.
Wishing I had read this book on going nappy free before he was born, I decided it wasn't too late in the game to start at six months. I ordered my potty on-line, going for one that I liked the look of and felt happy with the quality - a Thomas the Tank Engine potty from Mothercare and by that I mean from eBay after I'd seen it in Mothercare - because, after all, this little boy's butt has to be cased in this potty and it can take up to ten minutes/or more for little people to go wee or poo after they're sat on the toilet or potty (interesting fact, I know ;).
I decided for me personally that I would start off this nappy free thing by letting him air out his little baby bum. As a woman who has periods (it won't get any more gross than that, I promise) I know how annoying it can be to constantly wear underwear. So I had a think to myself - his little baby bum is constantly swaddled in nappies.
Nappies that are sometimes full of human waste. There's no nice way of saying that. Babies are awesome and oh so delicious. But sometimes they produce monsters in their nappies. And although I'm not an amateur dramatist about this (after all "going" is a fact of life) with pegs and a bio-hazardous bin in every room of my house, I don't like the thought of waste being plastered to Roman for any longer than it has to be. He normally is very aware of when he is wet or poopy and let's us know quickly and has since he was born.
Which is great for the purposes of being tuned into him now.
We've tried on a few occasions now to cue him with a "hsss" noise (it sounds like peeing, basically) and he looked at us like we were mad and just laughed at us. Then we had a breakthrough.
One night, during a bath, he looked up at me with a great big smile on his face and made the "hsss" noise and then started to pee. After he'd finished he laughed at me. As if he was saying "Look, Mum!". Haha. Thatta boy. Unfortunately Bryan didn't get to witness this but it was too funny to keep to myself so I shared it via Facebook. I was surprised at the supportive and open minded comments I got in return. I wasn't expecting that...but what else did I expect?
We were going to keep things hush hush because to be honest I didn't want criticisms and negativity impeding my choices and judgements I'd already made - in other words I didn't want un-supportiveness to sway my decisions or put pressure on them to change. A lot of leaflets you can get on the subject of toilet training tell you that between the ages of 18-24 months this is when the child is "ready" to train.
Today I got him up from a long nap - and his nappy was very, very full - and changed him as usual. His skin is getting a bit red these days from his nappy wearing :(. So I let him roam free for about ten minutes. Then I suddenly had this feeling - from the way he was moving and acting, all silent and a bit fidgety and it's rare he'll pee on me, he usually fidgets an awful lot, moans a bit and if I don't put a nappy on or get him over the toilet or sink then he'll pee on me. I've tuned myself into his cues for needing to go - that I should get the potty out. Now, shamefully, the potty usage has gone to pot (ha! pun intended!) lately because I recently have taken to feeling like crap and so it's gone a bit out the window so the potty was a bit dusty.
However, I didn't have time to mess around getting it clean and I honestly didn't think he would pee in it - he loves being on the toilet and this is when he laughs the most at us but when we've tried to put him on the potty he will protest rather loudly about it. However, today was different. I thought it was weird he didn't really react. The potty isn't like a Bumbo seat. It's a lot higher up. And the material is a lot harder.
However, he didn't make a fuss. As a precaution I grabbed his toy to keep him amused while we waited for pee. I figured I'd try it out, see where it got us and then be happy with whatever the outcome was. I checked a few seconds in and noticed he hadn't peed at all. All the while, making the cueing noise. He got fussy and I lifted him up...and lo and behold:
THERE.IT.WAS.
(Sorry the photo isn't better quality, I snapped it on my phone camera because I was holding baby. Also, notice the cow toy sticking out).
I was shocked beyond belief. This massive wave of pride went through my whole body.
My little man's first pee outside his nappy.
I scooped him up and bewildered him with lots of praise and kisses - something I promised myself I wouldn't do. After all it's pee. Not an Olympic gold medal or a First Class Honours Degree. It's a "life skill" (as Super Nanny is always saying about potty using), don't draw attention to it. But I couldn't contain myself.
I was cheering; "YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Our first pee pee in the potty!" then proceeded to sing the "Pee Pee in the Potty" song from Look Whose Talking 2 (YouTube it, I'm too lazy to link you in). The neighbour was in at the time so if he heard me he must think I'm absolutely mental - or that I worship some freaky Pee God.
I am a bit mental, but it's okay. It makes me the marvellous and interesting individual that I am today.
I just wonder what Roman's face would look like if he read this blog.
Maybe a little something like this?
"Muuuuuum! How could you?"
And more pictures of the Pee Pee Prince looking quite happy with himself to be out and about after we met his Daddy up town:
"Dis ma hand. It taste YUMEH!"
Yes, I love reading my babies mind and making him say really impossibly cute things.
This weeks highlights so far: Bryan got a job interview! Yay. Roman started taking naps again! Yay. Roman is now up to date with his 6-9 month wardrobe! Yay.
Still to come: An update on how the job interview went for Bryan. More 365 Pictures to be captured :). My brother and the cutest little family alive (of course mine is included here, too!) are visiting very soon from Washington (not DC).
Image of nappies from: http://www.eta.co.uk/Cycle-helmets-to-be-made-from-recycled-nappies/node/11791
