It's hard to believe, but Hannah is two!!  Nothing shows the passing of time quite like a growing baby.  She is very talkative now, currently sitting beside me showing me pictures of potties in a magazine and telling me about them.  "Oh my god, it's a duck potty mama!"  Oh my god mama, you need to check your language! 
Speaking of potties though, Hannah is totally down with the potty!  She hasn't been wearing diapers at all since about 14 months.  However, we still had the occasional accident, usually when we were travelling or if I wasn't there to make sure she had the opportunity to use the potty.  But for the last couple months she has been really good about telling me when she needs to go.  So now that I am on the other side of all this potty training/elimination communication/diaper free business, I am able to look back on the experience and I must say, it was totally worth the extra effort!!  I was thinking about it the other day and I think I only changed about 20 or 30 poopy diapers in Hannah's whole life!  I honestly can't imagine having done things any other way.  It seemed daunting in the beginning, trying to be diaper free with a new born, but I am so glad I stuck with it.  The awareness that you develop bonds you with your baby in a more complete way.  I see other mama's really struggling with potty training their 2 and 3 year olds while for us it was such a natural transition, Hannah had been potty training since birth.  So to any mama's out there who are considering going diaper free, or who are feeling overwhelmed by it....flow with it.  Things get easier.  Don't put too much pressure on yourself if you have accidents.  Remember you are doing this for your baby and it is such a gift to them...and in the long run, you too! 

Peeing the baby, Diaper Free, Elimination Communication-Taking care of Potty business!

The first time I ever encountered someone practicing "elimination communication" was back in 2008.  A friend of mine, Amber, had a little girl who had never worn diapers!  Like most people, when I heard this I couldn't really wrap my head around it.  What do you do if your kid doesn't wear diapers?  Then you think about how long diapers have been around and realise people did fine without diapers for hundreds of years.  And as Amber pointed out, most of the babies in the world are not wearing diapers.  While I was pregnant I started thinking more about what I would do about diapers when the baby was barn.  My partner and I live in an old school bus that has been converted to a cabin of sorts.  We live completely off-grid, no electricity or running water.  I definitely didn't want to be using disposable diapers so we were looking at cloth diapers.  I wasn't super stoked at the idea of washing diapers by hand, especially poopy diapers.  I saw Amber in town one day and asked her some more about how she managed going diaper free.  She recommended I read, "Diaper Free: the Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene", by Ingrid Bauer.  She also noted that I should read it while I was pregnant...good suggestion Amber!  The book is very informative and convinced me that with determination and patience, I could give my baby a more natural and aware approach to its elimination needs.  In retrospect, I was a little overly optomistic about my abilities.  When Hannah was born I was pretty overwhelmed from the whole birth experience, my body needing to rest and heal, and of course taking care of this tiny and precious new being was completely new and consuming.  However, I was determined to try taking Hannah to pee as often as I could.  I kept a cloth diaper on her, but took her to pee after naps and if she was still dry after an hour or so.  She didn't always go when I took her, and we still had a lot of wet diapers but I figured even if I only saved one diaper a day, that was better than nothing.  Now that she is 15 months, she pees on her own potty and is pretty good about signalling when she needs to go.  I still keep a diaper on her sometimes if we've had a series of misses or if we are going on longer outings.  The closeness you will experience for taking the time to tune into your baby's needs is well worth the effort.  Not to mention the number of diapers you will save from the wash pile! 
My suggestions to anyone who is thinking of trying to go diaper free:
-Read Ingrid Bauer's book "Diaper Free, The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene", preferably before your baby is born.
-Be patient, keep practicing!  Don't expect to not have accidents.  As you tune into your baby's needs and how their body works, things will get easier and your intuition will get better.
-Don't put pressure on yourself or your baby!  You want this to be a positive experience for you both.
-A good place to start is to take the baby to pee first thing in the morning when they wake up, and as soon as they wake up after a nap.   
-If you are worried about accidents, keep a cloth diaper on the baby to absorb most of the mess.
-In the summer, leaving the baby diaper free and spending lots of time outside go really well together!
-Start using some sort of sound cue with the baby right away, even if you have a miss and they pee in their diaper make the cue so they will assosiate it with peeing.
-Have a sign or signal for the baby to use to tell you when they have to go.
-You will have good periods where you have few or no misses, but also periods of regression.  Just remember it will pass.  Stay consistent and don't get frustrated.