The Diaper-Free Baby_ The Natural Toilet Training Alternative - Christine Gross-Loh [81]
I’m grateful to my brother Lawrence Loh for bringing laughter and music to all our lives. His lovely wife, Jennifer, and children, Charlie and Hilary, are precious members of our family. As this book went to press we were excited to see that baby Hilary was happily using the potty. This is the greatest testament to their belief in this project.
I heartily thank my brother Dan Loh, both for initially nudging me to write this book and for being such an integral part of this project by using his prodigious photographic talents toward a new end: capturing diaper-free babies on film—not an easy task! His patience and his willingness to lead multiple shoots and dedicate hours to photo editing directly resulted in fabulous images for this book and my website.
Thanks to Amy Miller, as well, for assisting Dan so ably in his work and for helping me out with just about everything when I was scrambling around writing this book. Her gentle, helpful presence smoothed the path so I could concentrate on what I needed to do. Much thanks to my in-laws, Phil, Laurie, Amy, and Julie Gross, and Leslie and Kenny Klaff, and my adorable nieces and nephews Jacob, Emma, Brandon, and Zoe. They have provided constant support and love throughout the years, and our boys are blessed to have them in their lives. No daughter-or sister-in-law could be luckier than to have such a loving, open-minded extended family. I thank Grandma Ida, too, for being my special cheerleader—her love means a lot to me.
And much, much loving thanks to my husband, David Gross-Loh, for being a wonderful husband and father. I’m blessed to be sharing the parenting journey with him. Seeing what a naturally intuitive and empathetic parent he is strengthens the love we have for our sons and each other.
I’m fortunate to have friends like Lamelle Ryman and Laura Simeon, and thank them for their insightful edits and close readings of the manuscript in its initial stages. I have the greatest respect both for their amazing editorial skills and for the loving parents they are. Watching Laura parent her daughter well before my children were born planted a seed and showed me what kind of mother I would want to become someday. Watching Lamelle experience new motherhood after my children were past babyhood reminded me of where my children and I have come from and how important it is to always honor the precious foundations set during infancy.
I thank my dear friend Yun Wolfe, whose insights always anticipate where I’m heading next. Her common sense advice to follow Benjamin’s lead on the toiliet, rather than wait until he was older, provided me with yet more support for an unorthodox path.
Thanks to Ashisha, of Mothering magazine, for giving me my first writing break and the opportunity to write on meaningful topics close to my heart.
To the women of my August 2000 Babies online support group—our constant conversations over the years have deepened and refined my views on parenting and life. Without the privilege of knowing so many women of different backgrounds and outlooks, my views would not have matured in the way that they have.
I’m truly grateful to Kanako Hirano for having been such a loving part of our family for important years of my children’s early lives. Without her help and the love she provides our boys, my career would never have gotten off the ground.
I appreciate Lara Goodman, Kate Twelker, Erin Miner, Dara Freed, Haya Brandt, Vanessa Rudin, and all the other members of our NYC DiaperFreeBaby group. I thank them for their faithful attendance at our meetings and the way they’ve helped spread the word about EC.
Through reading manuscript drafts, tossing ideas around, and online brainstorming late into the night, Marie Pechet, Elizabeth Parise, Amanda Alvine, and Katherine Abbey provided me with a constant stream of encouragement when I was putting this book together,