Potty Learning

Well, it looks like we're good to go in underwear now . . . though Thane has a rash on backside from unknown origin. It may be from cranberry. He hadn't had any in awhile, and then had a fair amount of it two days in a row. It was the only part of Thanksgiving Dinner that he ate (tmenhough he tolerated other items on his plate without vomiting or fussing, so that's pretty major!).

We met the behavior analyst on November 15th. He suggested we use a timer and have Thane use the potty every 20 minutes. If he didn't go at 20, then try again in 10, and then at 5 minute intervals until he went or had an accident. We were supposed to show disappointment if he messed himself, and cheer on successes and give a reward (we chose gluten-free gummy worms and bears). He did very well through the morning, but got angry about the process in the afternoon and had some bowel accidents. As luck would have it, he was having some issues with his bowels, which sure didn't help us any. But on day two he had no accidents and we could move to a 30, 15, 7.5, then 5 minutes schedule. Bowels were the only thing holding him back from stretching the schedule further until Thursday.

I was getting worried about him running to the potty every time an alarm sounded as it was obvious from day one that the timer was a big influence. He ran and left the table when it went off in the middle of dinner. He was also going in between timers whenever he needed, so it seemed like he understood the concept.

Mid-day Thursday, before all the Thansgiving timers went off, we stopped using his timer and let him self-regulate. No problems that day or Friday. Today we had one accident related to bowel trouble, so again I feel like that is really to be expected given his celiac disease and general tummy issues.

I have to say that Thane continues to amaze us. He has made so many changes and come so far one would hardly know he is the same child. This went so smoothly after the first day, when I was hormonally compromised and shouldn't have chosen that day to start anyway!

My favorite quote for the week is that I said, “Thane, you’re beautiful.” He replied, “Yes, I beautiful. And I big!”