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Potty Time

Potty Update:

Let me first start by saying that potty training a child with Special Needs is about the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

Ethan has been doing great and has come A LONG way from where we were almost a month ago but we still have a long way to go.

There are several objects we are trying to overcome, the first being that he is scared to use any potty other than the one at home.  I put him on the toilet everywhere we go (therapy, store, friend's houses, etc.) but every time he screams and cries. I'm hoping once he goes back to school on Monday and they continue with the 30 minute trip-training schedule that he will eventually be successful there and carry it over to other places.

The other item is body awareness.  There have been a handful (and by that I mean one hand) of times that he has said Mommy and I've asked, "do you have to go to the potty?" and he's responded yes followed by a successful visit to the bathroom. But more often than not it's just that we happen to be on the potty at the right time.

We had a great day this past Monday where we had no accidents at home and managed to stay dry during an outing to the dentist, post office and to get gas!  I thought we might have made it over the hump....only to come crashing back down the next few days with nothing but accident after accident after accident.

But then I remembered that often with Ethan we made big steps followed by bigger steps backward before we made our huge gains.  So we've had a much better past two days, even managing to stay dry during an outing to the grocery store.  But today, while we've done great on the potty, he couldn't stay dry during our outing for school supplies.  But I know we'll get there.

Oh, and I found a motivational factor for him (or at least something he likes to do once he's been successful on the potty) -- STICKERS!!  The picture above is where he puts them and it sits on the bench right outside the bathroom door.  He loves it!

So while I know we still have a long way to go (being able to hold it when we're out and about, body awareness, being able to use other toilets) I feel much better about where we are compared to where we started.  And I have seen such a HUGE difference in Ethan since this all started. He is talking more, communicating better, listening more, and his personality is shining! I just love this little guy.

I'm attending a potty training seminar on the 15th that I'm hopeful will help us even more and if we still need help, I have applied to the Marcus Autism Center for a 3 day intensive potty training class that for 90% of kids, trains them in the three days with no accidents afterward.  I really just want to skip to that but I think we both need to go through what we're going through.

This time next year I can see such a different family that is able and WANTING to go off and do fun, crazy adventures with nothing to hold us back.

Watch out world, here comes Ethan!

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