Updates... a bit about ECing...

God has so graciously provided for our every need, in spite of us being unemployed for 5 months. God is so good to His children! Thank you to everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers.

STEVEN:
Steven's approaching 2 months of age - time sure flies!

On Tongue-Tied~
Steven's tongue-tied days are over. The "snipping" went well. It was probably more tramautic for me than for him! : ) He didn't seem to notice. He seems to enjoy his "new tongue" and being able to move it around much more than when it was tied down.

On ECing~
ECing is going well. I'm having more misses lately, but still get a good percentage of pees and poos into the potty. I've relaxed a little in my approach and have been more respectful of Steven's sleeping. When he's napping sometimes he'll stir, but not fully awake, to signal he needs to go. In the past I'd put him on the potty, but often this would wake him up and make him grumpy. Instead, I let him sleep until he fully wakes and pee him then. Sometimes he holds it until then, sometimes he has a wet diaper but still goes again after he wakes.

Steven definitely knows what it means to be held over the potty and told to "go pee pee", as well as has some bladder control. I think it was last week, I was at a friend's house and had done some running around that morning. I hadn't taken time to pee Steven, since there hadn't been a convenient time to and he was sleeping on and off most of the morning. I was sure he had emptied himself into his diaper. He woke up and was fussing. I took him to the bathroom to change his diaper. Sure enough he had gone pee and poo. As I was cleaning him up, he kept crying pretty insistently. I figured I had better put him on the potty "just in case" since his diaper was off and all. I didn't even have time to tell him to go, the second he was in position over the potty he started peeing (and stopped crying)! Another day, Sven took off Steven's diaper, getting ready to potty him. Steven started to pee just a squirt, then stopped and waited until daddy had him over the potty to finish business.

If Steven doesn't have to go potty, (or doesn't want to because he'd rather be eating), then he lets me know. If he wants to eat but still has to go, even though he's protesting, he still goes. Often he'll fuss or cry until I lay him down to take his diaper off to put him on the potty, then he'll smile at me, as if to say, "yes, that's what I want!". Other times he'll cry until he's on the potty and smile once he starts peeing. He's so cute!

On Crying~
I think we're starting to get a handle on his crying. I don't think he has many upset tummy aches any more, although he does spit up (sometimes a lot). The main times he cries now are when he's tired. I've found that if I catch him just getting tired (I have to catch him before he's rubbing his eyes, otherwise it's too late) then he likes to be laid down and will (generally) go to sleep without any fuss. If I wait too long, he cries and cries. I think this is the mystery to his current crying situation, but time will test my theory. (And of course he cries if he has to wait too long to eat. Normally this isn't an issue, but every once in a while we're caught in an inconvenient place and he has to wait a little longer than he cares to.)

SVEN:
On Work~
Sven's been hired for the summer working in the seminary library. He'll be helping with a new barcoding system for their books. We're grateful to the Lord for His provision.

On School~
Friday marks the end of Sven's May class. He's been busy reading and working on homework.

CRYSTAL:
I've been back on the sewing machine, experimenting with diaper making. I made three diapers this past week. I just picked up some snaps to try using those, as I was having some issues with velcro (and just ran out anyways).