UPDATE: Hello to all BERF readers! Because of all the interest in EC, I’ve just added a new post that synthesizes what I’ve learned thus far. Thanks for visiting Her Green Life.
So, this post originally had a “five” in the title, but five has come and gone. At this point, we’re actually closer to seven months than six, but who’s counting?
I’ve been sitting on this post, waiting to have a “Dude on the pot” photo to include, but I’m afraid no photo is quite appropriate. Most potty opportunities in the past weeks ended with him making his body completely rigid and refusing to sit on the pot. I finally started joking around with it, holding his rigid little body up over the pot, saying, “Light as a feather, stiff as a board,” except more than half the time, I caught myself saying, “Light as a board, stiff as a feather.”
Anyway, when he resists, we’re not forcing it, but our enthusiasm for offering the potty has definitely waned. We still offer sometimes, but our number of catches is quite low. Many of the books talk about “potty pauses,” but I assumed those were numbered in days, maybe a week or two, not weeks or months. We shall see . . . .
**EC stands for Elimination Communication. If you’re new to the blog, you can read more about it in the “Psst, psst” series:
Her Green Life 
Don’t worry! With our toddler we had a potty pause that lasted about a month. Until we changed things up a bit. We offered a different place for him to go – that seemed to do it. Maybe the potty is a bit cold – could warm it up against a heater or run it under hot water before using. Just some thoughts… Hope the pause ends soon! Happy Pottying 🙂
Thanks for the tips — we’ll give them a try. We can use the hair dryer to warm the seat. He does seem to be a bit less resistant these past few days, so maybe he’s getting past the pause.
I think the books make it all seem so much easier than it really is. Perhaps if you’re able to do 100% EC and can really devote fulltime to it, it’s smooth sailing, but that definitely wasn’t our experience. We struggled with not getting frustrated – sounds like you’ve got the right attitude.
Oh, I definitely struggle with not getting frustrated, and I agree that the way the books present it contributes to that. It IS frustrating when I spend five minutes with him on the pot, rather certain that he has to go, but won’t for whatever reason, only to set him on the floor and see a puddle two minutes later!
Still, the approach [mostly] makes sense to me, so we keep trying. I keep reminding myself that it’s still early, and babies can make huge developmental leaps week to week, so maybe our EC breakthrough is just around the corner.