Dar just gained a super-power.
At least, that’s how it feels. For me, anyway, but I also think, for him.
I mentioned before that we’ve been doing “intense PT-ing.” Without getting into all the gory details, he’s been wearing an alarm that catches wet undies, and when we hear it, we have to make the idea of using the potty GREAT and the idea of not using it to be, ah, aversive. The first two weeks were torture and aversive for everyone.
The only fun part was Dar’s brother’s little 4-year-old voice saying, “You gotta go in the potty Dar!”
I was actually worried that we’d turned the bathroom into a chamber of horrors, which was pretty much the opposite of the goal.
The first sign that Dar had evolved was that his behavior had changed. You know the stereotype about a person waiting in line for the bathroom hopping around on one leg? Well, Dar sorta started doing that. And when he does, we’d take him to the potty. And he laughs, and looks down, and makes the magic happen. And we cheer and holler and give him M&Ms and/or Gummi Bears and he keeps laughing.
I almost want to laugh too. We have been waiting for this day for seven years. And if it continues, it opens up options for schools and camps and other places he can’t attend right now.
We’re still on a long road. He still has accidents. We need him to indicate on his talker “I want potty.” We need to work on #2s (please). We need him to be comfortable doing what he does without any big celebration, or even an adult presence. The PT-ing is confined to the home, at least for now; that needs to change.
He has been known to backslide. For example, I used to say, “Where are you from?” and he would say “Buh-kuh.” By his standards, that’s practically Berkeley! Now, when I ask the same question, he barely says “Buh.” My point is, he has been known to lose skills. We have to guard against backsliding.
But Dar has a new super-power! Let’s keep this short in the hopes that this blog post doesn’t jinx it.
