Okay, so we all know that there are more challenges in our life with Bradley than we thought there would be, and though the girls are typically developing...I have to say their challenges are not always so obvious and cut and dried either. Today of all days, the girls have definitely decided to throw up as many challenges that can be pushed into one day. ;-) Grrr...
So, Bradley has decided it's time to tackle the ultimate Challenge...the potty training challenge. I have sat back and while gently introducing the notions of potty training, I have taken into account the lessons taught to me by Sydney as she was trying to potty train. I understand that using the potty is the last bit of control a child has on his or her life. After they give up those diapers, that's it...they have to bend to the will of every one else. Mom and Dad who force them into character underwear that they may or may not like till they can finally choose...but they have to wear them...no more going commando till they are well into the age of Mom and Dad not ever needing to know those details. You give up those diapers and then that's it; someone is asking them to either go to the potty or preventing them from going. It's the usual way of things, and it's the way of learning that leads to Independence.
For the last year or so, we've had a potty in the bathroom (good place for it I know), I mean - we have a kid potty in the bathroom. When Bradley is ready to climb into the bath we set him on the potty and see if there's a chance that Bradley might go, something. It has been hit and miss constantly, our hits are small attempts that we celebrate with great joy! Lately, there has been more to cheer about.
Bradley is aware of what the potty is for now. We take him in to give him a bath and once he's naked as the day he was born, he goes and lifts the lid on his potty. Then he sits and starts to pee. We get a little bit, then we clap and I sign and say, More potty? And he grins and he goes a little more, then we clap give high fives and fist pumps, then I ask again...he does it again. We sit there for quite a while, he goes a little, we say Yeah, and if we forget to clap he grabs our hands and puts them together for us. And we laugh knowing full well that we're toast now. We know that he's going to expect us to clap from now on. I have this horrible of image of one of us standing outside the bathroom door cheering our ten year old (God help me, 20 year old?) for a successful potty experience! Well, maybe just the next couple of years till he gets the idea well in place in his mind and then comes to completely understand the whole process.
For now, we have these small victories. We have Bradley who understands that he has been given a tiny little potty that he has to adjust his seating for in order to work on getting his pee into the pot. That kind of awareness is amazing. Further, we have a little dude that is trying super hard, and I mean it...that he's going to surprise himself with what else he can do in the potty and probably quite by accident. But like most kids, he has his favorite part of all this, and though the clapping is pretty great...flushing the toilet when he is all done is pretty awesome too. We'll forget about those little parts he also enjoys where he walks around the bathroom and practices his aim at anything but the potty. Sigh...
But hey, we are all just works in progress...Bradley is moving along at his pace, working on the things that are apparently important to him right now. We'll still be working on gluing and pictures and all that good stuff, but I guess we're also going to be running with these more independent skills as we move along his path for now. We're just excited that he is interested in this momentous life changing event, and we can only hope that with time and repeated practice he'll pick up this skill as painlessly as possible.
For now, we're clapping, high fiving, and fist pumping like there is no tomorrow. If this were an Olympic sport, we'd be looking for sponsors - that's how exciting this stuff is right now! ;-) Who knew right?
Challenges in the challenges...that's how we roll in this house! Putting to bed day 22 of the "31 for 21:Challenge", have a great night everyone!
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