Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Still At It, And Doing Well

Well I'm still going on with toilet training. In a nutshell, it has been getting better and better, though we still haven't 'caught' anything yet. We've been at it for almost three weeks. I would propose that most regular kids would be done by now. My girls were, though Miss Jane would often have accidents. But I'm not even putting a time limit on this with my boy. From the beginning, I was not entirely certain what to expect, or how long it would take. I have heard cases of it taking 3 days and other cases where it has taken years. I think the bottom line is, there are different and unique variables for each kid. So it doesn't matter how long it takes for us, as long as progress is being made in some way.

And we have progress indeed!

Although we still haven't caught anything on the toilet yet, my little man can now sit on the toilet with minimal assistance. He will sit for a very reasonable period of time, and he will sit on our toilet, kinder toilets and grandma's toilet. Woohoo! It really is a great achievement. The one little problem he has is that he sometimes stands up during the 'sitting' time. By this I mean we get alot of; stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down. I usually need to remind him to sit down again. But he mostly complies and will do so on his own. Sometimes, I don't have to say anything and he will sit back down again by himself. Other times, he still needs some 'encouragement' (read: gentle restraint) to remain seated. But this does not distress him, and he doesn't need it much. In fact, there was one time where he took my hand and placed them on his hip for more support/help.

Another thing I have noticed; The cheeky little monkey knows when he needs to go, and he will hold it. This is good news!! It means he can read and interpret the signs! It also means he can exercise some bodily control, which is a great achievement for any kid that age! I will usually sit him on the toilet when I can see that he needs to go, but he will hold. Sometimes he even looks slightly distressed and uncomfortable - I can see that he is busting (come on hon, just doooo eeet! LOL). I am hoping to high heaven that he will go! But he holds. After a reasonable stretch of time in sitting, we 'finish' up and he is allowed to leave. Within 5 minutes of putting his jocks back on, he lets loose (nooo!). This has happened several times now. It bothers him - he knows what he has done - and he is initially resistant to me cleaning him up. Nevertheless, he always complies reasonable well anyway. Good boy :)

We are now at the point where I don't need to reward him for being in there, and I am even phasing out rewards for sitting. He will get a few tiny pieces of chocolate while he is sitting, to reward the act. But that's it. I am waiting to catch something before I up the rewards again.

So all in all, while we are a long way from success, there has still been some significant progress! It is encouraging and I am feeling alot more positive about it all. I think that aside from continuing with the sitting skills, there is not much more I can do at this stage. Now it's up to him. I need for my little man to relax and let go! Once we achieve some skill at that, I can move on to teaching him to let me (or someone else) know when he needs to go. PECs for that... and that's a whole other story!


xx

No comments:

Post a Comment