I hope you could sense the sarcasm in that. I am so emotionally drained right now. Actually, I am also a little embarrassed telling you just how badly I am coping, but I promised myself I would share this journey, so you are going to get it all.
I am drained. Dealing with Erik is really taxing at times. Naturally, I expected some stress with toilet training, I just didn't expect to be feeling this drained though. It's not so much a physical thing, although there obviously is alot of physical effort involved with toilet training. But it's more an emotional or mental thing. Having to deal with his anxieties and reluctance to change is just taking it out of me. You need so much patience, so much self control.... and to practice that takes mental energy. Alot of mental energy.
In the last post I mentioned how things had deteriorated. Well, I still haven't heard back from the people I emailed, so I'm just kind of winging it right now. I did receive a phone call today from someone in early intervention/teaching regarding a totally separate issue, and was able to speak to her about it briefly. She did say that it would be ideal to give it a good week at least. Despite my emotional position, I am really loathe to give up so early, so I was pleased to hear that from her. In light of that, I am giving us till Thursday afternoon - 1 week in total from start to finish - to see how this goes before I make a decision.
Here is what I am doing in the meantime.....
He has gone from sitting on the toilet for a few seconds, to dropping to the floor or sitting on my lap when in the toilet. He refuses to sit and does protest when I try to take him.... currently, I must carry him to the toilet. He doesn't resist too much when I carry him, but I can tell he doesn't like going. So, I won't make him sit on the toilet anymore. If he can only cope with sitting on my lap or the floor, so be it. That's fine. We will do that. We will return to just being in the toilet for now. He is rewarded after we spend some time in there, and allowed to go on his merry way.
I found that he would withhold whenever I let him go around with a bare bum. This is not good. So I am going to keep him in either a pull-up, or jocks. When he makes an accident, I take him to the toilet and clean him up in there. We then spend a bit of time just being in there, and then out again. No reward this time.
He really hates being cleaned up after poo's. I am not sure what to do about this. Obviously I have to clean him, I can't just leave him feral and dirty. At the moment, I am trying to be as gentle and kind as possible, but I still won't reward him for being in the toilet if he is there to clean up a poo. Just lots of hugs and encouragement.
I am hoping that by Thursday, he will again be willing to sit on the toilet for a little while. If so, then I will continue with the toilet training by working on his 'sitting' skills. Hopefully, we can progress back to that point, and then onto sitting long enough to catch something. We were on the way to this point before, but that first poo really set things back. He hated it. Unfortunately, we will encounter more of those - that's the whole point isn't it? And I am really not sure how to handle that.
Can't wait for those return emails. /sigh
xx
PS. Sorry about the no-photo again, but I'm not sure what to take a picture of! Am I allowed to post one of him in his jocks or will the child protection people arrest me? :S
No wee's. No poo's. No more sitting on the toilet. Lots of 'accidents'.
I am drained. Dealing with Erik is really taxing at times. Naturally, I expected some stress with toilet training, I just didn't expect to be feeling this drained though. It's not so much a physical thing, although there obviously is alot of physical effort involved with toilet training. But it's more an emotional or mental thing. Having to deal with his anxieties and reluctance to change is just taking it out of me. You need so much patience, so much self control.... and to practice that takes mental energy. Alot of mental energy.
In the last post I mentioned how things had deteriorated. Well, I still haven't heard back from the people I emailed, so I'm just kind of winging it right now. I did receive a phone call today from someone in early intervention/teaching regarding a totally separate issue, and was able to speak to her about it briefly. She did say that it would be ideal to give it a good week at least. Despite my emotional position, I am really loathe to give up so early, so I was pleased to hear that from her. In light of that, I am giving us till Thursday afternoon - 1 week in total from start to finish - to see how this goes before I make a decision.
Here is what I am doing in the meantime.....
He has gone from sitting on the toilet for a few seconds, to dropping to the floor or sitting on my lap when in the toilet. He refuses to sit and does protest when I try to take him.... currently, I must carry him to the toilet. He doesn't resist too much when I carry him, but I can tell he doesn't like going. So, I won't make him sit on the toilet anymore. If he can only cope with sitting on my lap or the floor, so be it. That's fine. We will do that. We will return to just being in the toilet for now. He is rewarded after we spend some time in there, and allowed to go on his merry way.
I found that he would withhold whenever I let him go around with a bare bum. This is not good. So I am going to keep him in either a pull-up, or jocks. When he makes an accident, I take him to the toilet and clean him up in there. We then spend a bit of time just being in there, and then out again. No reward this time.
He really hates being cleaned up after poo's. I am not sure what to do about this. Obviously I have to clean him, I can't just leave him feral and dirty. At the moment, I am trying to be as gentle and kind as possible, but I still won't reward him for being in the toilet if he is there to clean up a poo. Just lots of hugs and encouragement.
I am hoping that by Thursday, he will again be willing to sit on the toilet for a little while. If so, then I will continue with the toilet training by working on his 'sitting' skills. Hopefully, we can progress back to that point, and then onto sitting long enough to catch something. We were on the way to this point before, but that first poo really set things back. He hated it. Unfortunately, we will encounter more of those - that's the whole point isn't it? And I am really not sure how to handle that.
Can't wait for those return emails. /sigh
xx
PS. Sorry about the no-photo again, but I'm not sure what to take a picture of! Am I allowed to post one of him in his jocks or will the child protection people arrest me? :S
No wee's. No poo's. No more sitting on the toilet. Lots of 'accidents'.
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