Elimination Communication

We had started sitting Brian on the potty recently. The first time that I started doing it at home was the week that Tink got very sick. On Wednesday of that week, I sat him on the potty for a minute every 30 minutes for two hours. On Thursday, I didn't do it that long. It was that Thursday that Tink began to look a little unlike herself, although it wasn't until Friday that she definitely looked ill.  


That was nearly four weeks ago. Tink became very sick and it was a number of days before I started sitting him on the potty again. At home, during sessions, his tutors and I sat him on the potty, too, but aside from this time we weren't doing it very consistently at home.


Although Brian didn't have any problems sitting on the potty, he hadn't eliminated either. He would either wet himself slightly afterwards while wearing under pants or eliminate in his diaper. That was until last Thursday, April 20th, when I went to pick him up at the center and Laura told me excitedly that Brian had gone in the potty three times. She explained that she sat him on the potty when she noticed that he had begun to wet himself and then quickly sat him on the potty where she sat him for about 10 minutes at a time. He was hesitant and he didn't fully eliminate but he went in the potty a little each time.


Over the weekend we didn't sit Brian on the potty very much, which is why I was surprised by what he did on Monday afternoon after he woke from his nap. He was wearing his diaper and he told me that he had to go "poo-poo." To clarify, I asked him if he had to go to the potty and he said yes, so to the potty we went. Brian had taken to throwing bathroom tissue in the toilet, flushing and washing his hands afterwards so I wasn't expecting much at the time. As expected, he threw wads of tissue paper in to the toilet. I told him to "go pee-pee" and he positioned himself on the seat so that he could look and he eliminated a little. It was exciting to see my little boy eliminate like a "big boy"!


"Can you do that again?" I asked him.
"Yeah," he replied. And then he looked downward again and did it a little more.


A number of times I continued to ask him if he could do it again, and he would reply "yeah" and eliminate. I was cheering for him and even he raised his hand and asked for a few "hi-fives" after he eliminated successfully.


Once he was done, but before he got off the potty, he asked for a "prize." As an incentive, I had a plastic shopping bag full of inexpensive toys that he could claim after a successful elimination.


Also yesterday evening, while I was talking to Mother on the phone, Brian went in the potty with Daddy's help twice. Once I was off the phone, he went in the potty with me twice also.


This evening he continued telling us that he had to "poo-poo" and sure enough, he went in the potty repeatedly!


He's doing so well that he's exhausted my "potty prizes" supply and I'm thinking that we'll have to shift to a token board, where by he'll have to earn a number of tokens before earning his potty prize.