A post about poop

I have been putting Etta on the potty about once a day lately. I would not by any means say I am practicing elimination communication, but I am interested in her being aware of her body's functions. I know she understands when she is poopy. If I ask her if she is, she is able to tell me her version of the word "yes". She never says yes when she is not poopy. She does sometimes say no when she is in fact poopy, but that is because (I think) she is having a fun time playing & does not want to be taken away to have her diaper changed. There have also been a few times lately when Matt or I have gone to get her after nap and she has said "change" and done the sign for diaper change that we taught her - and she is in fact poopy at those times. There have been a few times lately after nap when I ask her if she wants to sit on the potty and she say yes. Then I discover that she has already done poop in her diaper. So I think she is saying yes to the potty knowing that poop goes in the potty when I shake it off her cloth diaper. There have also been times over the past few months that Addie or I will be going poop and Etta will sit in the bumbo which is in the bathroom and do her own poop. All this to say, she knows about where poop goes.

So this morning when I got her up I did not smell any poop. Which is rare lately because since her stint of rotavirus  basically every morning when I go in there is a super poopy smelly diaper waiting for me. So I started changing her and not only was there no poop, her diaper was basically dry. I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty and she said yes. So to the potty we went. Usually she squirms and wants down very quickly. Today she was more patient and I could tell she was working on trying. So I expected to hear a tinkle, tinkle. Instead, surprise! I heard the plunk, plunk of little poops! Cleaning up a little bum after pooping in the potty is SO much easier than when the poop is in the diaper. She got a sticker as a reward (don't tell her Addie got jelly beans when she did poops in the potty!) So I am not going to expect her to be potty trained by the age of 18 months or anything. But I am going to continue having her sit on the potty, especially at natural times like right before bath. I also want to try to catch her at her typical poop times too (often right after meals). We will see how it goes...