And we shall call him potty trained.

OK, not QUITE yet because he's still wearing diapers at night, but during the day, it's all "pants" (That's what he calls his undies. They're "pants".) I can't believe how well he's done with this. He's still having a few little accidents mostly when he waits too long to get someone to take him to the potty (he doesn't quite realize he can go on his own yet) but he knows where he's supposed to go, and he's doing really well at accomplishing that. I cannot believe my little boy, barely 2 years old, is basically potty trained. With Erin, this process was impossible. She never showed a single sign of being ready, and took months and months to get even 50% consistent. After that experience, I was ready for it to be a huge process with Orren, too, but it wasn't. We just let him kind of take the lead, and footed the bill for some "pants" that he wanted.

Everyone always asks if cloth diapers make for quicker potty training. I would say it varies by individual kids. I know plenty of people within the cloth diapering world who are diapering 3-year-olds. No, it's not as many as I know of disposable diapering parents who are doing the same, but it's enough to say that using cloth diapers is not a guarantee of early potty training. However, in my own family, the trend does lend credence to that theory. Orren has potty trained a full year earlier than Erin.

I knew it could happen, but I wasn't really expecting it to go like this. I wasn't expecting to have a cloth diapering hiatus of several months between Orren potty training, and the new baby being born. It's nice, though. I will say that I have thoroughly enjoyed cloth diapering for the past two years and one month. I am proud to be able to say that my son never wore a disposable diaper, even once. I am happy that we supported small businesses (because really, all cloth diapering retailers and manufacturers within the US are small businesses) instead of funneling thousands of dollars to corporate behemoths like Proctor and Gamble. I am proud of Thak for being open to the idea to begin with, for funding this endeavor, for jumping on board as long as we got him Bum Genius, and ultimately, for learning how to fold a prefold prettier than I do (although I'm still faster). We didn't have other families to ask questions of, or retailers to go to and see the diapers before buying. We took about 100 shots in the dark, hoped for the best, and rolled with the punches, but most importantly, we made it work 100% of the time. Could I have done it without him? Yeah, I probably could have, but it was a lot better to take this journey together.

So for now, we're moving onto a new phase! Orren's a big kid now. He doesn't need those diapers anymore (except at night. He still needs them then for now.) and tomorrow, we'll be stripping all the inserts and prefolds, and sunning out everything that's stained, providing there are no sandstorms, and storing it all away for the new baby (except the couple of fitteds and covers he uses at night). I can't believe it's time to do that, but I am very proud of my little boy.