I've been afraid to say anything and jinx it but I think Leo's done with diapers. We haven't changed any poopy pants since Christmas and he's initiating use of the potty. Trainers are actually being useful because he often realizes he needs to go slightly later than he ought to, but he does pull off his pants and hunt down a bathroom at that point. Maybe it was the cool new low-flow toilet, or having functioning bathrooms on both floors, or just getting tired of sitting in wet clothes, but at 2 3/4, he seems to have finally decided that pee-pee does belong in the potty. For most of December, I had a sticker chart on the bathroom door and once he got 12 stickers, he picked out a toy truck from the thrift store. It took forever to fill it out and didn't make a huge difference that I could tell, but who knows. I've had him in the same fleece pocket diaper and flannel pants for bedtime since last weekend. Since the boys share a bed and Leo usually ends up in our bed by morning, I'm not sure I want to risk getting all of us wet, but we could probably switch to underwear overnight without too many changes of sheets. I just might be able to move the diaper shelf downstairs and use it for books this year.
For anyone wondering how much of a difference the whole changing 25 times a day and teaching him to use the potty at 6 weeks old has made -- Peter decided to start using the potty at 35 months. Leo is 33 months. If I'd let him run around naked, he would have used the toilet full-time six months ago. He has peed when I brought him to the toilet since he was tiny. But the stubborn kid wanted to do it his way and apparently, that time was now. I need to convince myself that I don't need a diaper bag with 5 changes of clothes when I leave the house -- that could be tough.
I'll probably do E.C. with a potential next child but I might find a way to let it be more child-led. Having a daughter who could wear dresses and go bottomless without being so obvious would make that easier.
Here's to a diaper-free 2009!
