Besides the fact that my daughter will hang me one day for sharing all that I do about her......the last time I discussed this with you guys, Claire ran for the hills! Shortly after bringing her home we tried a little potty training experiment that went terribly wrong and hasn't been revisited for over a year! Since gaining a lot of the vocabulary needed to talk through this, we realized that Claire is actually scared of....well, seeing her poop. Sorry to be so graphic! But, that's it in a nut shell.
So, we spent the past months desensitising her to this sight as well as explaining to her that she doesn't have to look at it, just put in the potty and flush! She set a goal of working on it when she turned 4. We let her call the shots with this and have been talking a lot about it since her 4th birthday is just around the corner!
Then a few weeks ago she announced that she was going pooh....while in the tub. Not thinking, I snatched her up and sat her on the potty. This usually evokes an episode of frightful crying and clawing to remove herself from the offensive commode. As it happened, this time she was indignant, but not traumatized. So, we went with it. She "accidentally" pooped in the potty and I ran for a treat. Not expecting this, we were fresh out of M&Ms, but my visiting parents had brought chocolate with them, so it sufficed!
She got chocolate, she got lots of praise and she got to flush without looking! Wow! This is fun stuff!
The next morning, Claire made another announcement, so we rushed her to the pot. I went to the store for M&Ms after that. Apparently, this is catching on!
And so, with only a few accidents here and there, we have managed to go in the potty more often than not for about 2 weeks now!
Of course, I'm sharing this on the eve of our long weekend camping trip. Somehow I doubt potty training is going to transfer well to the campground! Oh well. I guess we'll pick up where we left off.
What most people don't understand about why this milestone is soooooo important for Claire, is that she isn't "supposed" to be able to do this. The nurses at the spina bifida clinic told me they doubted Claire knew when she was going, even though I told them that she announced it all the time, often before she is actually going. Due to her other issues, it just wasn't likely that she would have enough sensation to be potty trained. So, while most moms do celebrate the passing of the diaper phase, I am thankful that this is even a possibility for my little girl! WHOO HOO!
8 comments:
YAY!!! Oh that is so awesome!!!
woohoo!!!! way to go claire! i told you that you could do it! keep up the good work!
YAY Claire!!!! That's wonderful Chelsea!! Don't doctors and nurses know better than to tell us what our kids can and cannot do!!!
We're very proud of Claire! It's a whole different level of accomplishment for kids who have physical/medical issues!
I'm NOT telling you this, so shhh....Pip was four when he was finally able to learn. His spinal cord surgery allowed his legs to relax enough to sit on the potty to try. (Previously, he had ben to "tight" to attempt it.) And we got the same information from the medical professionals that he wouldn't be able to tell due to lack of sensation. Hmm. All he had to do was learn to listen to his body's signals.
God is good! Please give Claire a big ole hug from us!
What a blessing! How wonderful that she has that much sensation.
Now if I could just get Acer to wake up in the night instead of sleeping like the dead, we'd be totally potty trained too.
I am so jealous. But yeah for Clarie! I would love to get that far with Alex. Did Claire always walk?
Yea, Claire!!! Proving them wrong - that is just awesome.
Peggy
Shane wants to know what y'all are going to do when that gal runs a marathon! He wants rights to part of the movie! (I figure we'll all be one happy family by then...)
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