In one week....

Just last Saturday we finally decided to bite the bullet and try and potty train Lowell. He is four years old, after all, and after two and a half years of two kids in diapers I was ready to lighten the load a little. After thinking about it (and worrying) for over a year how it may go and hearing heartbreaking stories of autistic kids well into elementary school and not yet potty trained, we figured there's no better time to dive in and see what happened. Lowell is in such a good spot right now in his life. He has been developing wonderful social skills, a delightful sense of humor, much more verbal communication and he, himself, seemed to be getting pretty tired of diapers. So last Saturday we put him in underwear. He had been in underwear before for short chunks of time, just to see if he was going to have any sensory issues. Everything seemed fine. We put him on the potty about every 10 min. and he went a few times that first morning. He definitely didn't like the feeling and when he was about to go he would start to cry. We knew that it would take some adjustment and the more he went in the potty and got used to the feeling, the better. She went in his pants several times as well. He wasn't really aware that the underwear was not a diaper and didn't seem to care. So the first day was 10 min. off the potty, 5 min. on. It was a long day....By the second day, he seemed to understand "holding it" a bit better. We waited him out several times on the potty knowing that he needed to go and didn't want him to get off and immediately go in his pants. By the end of the weekend we felt he had come a long way, but had no idea what was in store for him...and us...at school the next day.

He started off great with only an accident or two and was holding it for short chunks of time. Actually on Monday afternoon he held it at his integrated preschool class all afternoon. He got home and wouldn't go, but eventally did and we were feeling like things were going to be ok. As the week went on the progress report was that he wasn't having accidents at all. He was brought to the bathroom every 20 min. or so, but didn't go every time.

Then by Friday we found that a few times at his Autism Day Treatment program he was going into the bathroom on his own. This weekend at home he stops whatever he is doing and goes into the bathroom and takes care of business, flushes the toilet and is done. We're in awe!! Of course there are still a few accidents and he still won't do #2 in the potty, but we're making great progress. Today we even took a trip to Target, went on a long walk and he held it the whole time. We came in and prompted him to go and he went...all on his own. We are amazed at how far he has come in just one week! Yay Lowell....as we like to say around here:)