7 Month Anniversary

Wow I shared with Alan that Mikah uses the potty. We looked into elimination communication ages ago but never really went much further than that. How did you get started?

We first heard about it when I was still pregnant and kept it in the back of our minds that we would do it... after 4 months we never really got around to it. We had tried to hold him over the regular toilet when we knew he had to go and he would just fuss and fuss and not go. Plus it was really awkward.
Then I bought the baby potty for him and sat him on that when I knew he had to poo. The baby potty is working out well for us. Usually Mikah poops after a long nap. That or we'll hear him farting.. when we know he has to go we'll take his diaper off, sit him on the toilet in a reasonably quiet/private area and sign to him "toilet" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3k4kRgQ5ao ) and say "toilet" "bathroom" "pee" "poo." Sometimes ben will grunt like he's pooping too. Sometimes i'll also massage his lower back. We can usually hear him pushing (holding his breath and then... releasing) and sometimes we have to wait 5 or 10 minutes before he finishes, though not always. Sometimes he doesn't poop at all... and sometimes he only pees.. or farts. It's hit or miss.
After the first few times of "catching" his poop it becomes kind of fun though, like 'yes! caught it!' and then it becomes easier. Clean up is simpler too- we just flush his poop down the regular toilet, rinse it out and then put it back for next use. We also became more aware of Mikah's "cues" of letting us know when he has to poop. Sometimes there are no cues though and Mikah will be inconsolable for 10 minutes before we realize that he had pooped himself.
Also some people catch pees and poos. Ben and I just do his poops. Some people also have 'diaper-less' babies (they wear regular pants and undies instead) but we still put a diaper on Mikah. The level of involvement is really up for you and your family to decide. Hope that helped some :)