Potty Party. Day FIVE.

So here we are on Day FIVE of our little "potty party". The hope was for one, maybe 2 days of the sitting on the toilet marathon. But here we are. It's not that B isn't doing a good job - it's just that he has a bladder of steel. We know from the whole philosophy behind ABA therapy that kids with autism need a lot of repetition before they learn something. Hence the 40-plus hour week of therapy. We teach and teach and then teach again. Same rules apply for potty training. The trouble is that he only has to go a few times a day so it's taking a while to get that whole repetition thing going. He literally has spent the last FIVE days on the toilet for close to his entire waking hours. He gets breaks and we're trying to make those longer and longer as we get used to his signals and times that he needs to go. Still, he is on more than off (like 8 hours on and only 4 off) and an adult has to be within arm's length of him at all times.

Today was his best day by far. Zero accidents and 5 successes. He made significant progress. And he has even been staying dry at night! (He took pull-up off one night). My dear hubby is swamped with work (which is AWESOME news given that he just embarked on a new career adventure) so we've called in reinforcements. Our PCA was here with me from 9-4 and our head therapist from 4-7. With another kiddo, it's imperative that we have 2 adults present to keep up this vigil. Tomorrow, I'm on my own from 8-10 but hopefully we'll have another day like today or even better. We try underwear tomorrow... did I mention that B also has been sans pants for 5 days? And we try to make his time off the pot much longer. And hopefully next week we'll be able to bring back some of his therapy programs into his days.

I am in awe of his compliance and tolerance through all this. He is the biggest trooper I know. Go, B, go! NO MORE DIAPERS!