New Year's Goals

Time to set some goals for the coming year 2015:

1. James needs to eat more to gain weight. Currently he is pushing 4' 11" and we're struggling to keep him above 60 pounds. He was 87 pounds last August. Not sure why he's decided food is evil. We have ruled out Celiac Disease and throat/stomach/upper bowel issues with an endoscopy. Which made James even more determined to Never Eat Again. Sigh.
       
2. Help James become more "regular." We're going to be trying biofeedback for that. In San Francisco at a Lucille Packard clinic once a week for the next 12 weeks. I'd say "shoot me now" but the truth is ... we are desperate for help with this.
        
3. Get James' speech back on track at school. It's pretty much not been happening over the past 2 months. Not happy about that at all. He needs help speaking. It's in his IEP.
   
4. Get Behaviourist help going. We're finally approved and not having to worry about hundreds of dollars in copays. We've started the intake merry-go-round. We need to finish it AND start the sessions!
   

                          Goals on a more normal level ...

       
5. Have James' birthday party BEFORE Easter this year. Bowling alley sounds good!
        
6. Send Thank You cards for Christmas this year (meaning for Christmas 2014 by the end of January). I know we all can do it. We should do it. We will do it!
         
7. Try to add Saturday Sidekicks back into our routine. That is one awesome program!
        
8. Breathe. Believe. Do.

Two Steps Back

Hello, constipation, our old nemesis! I got a call on Friday afternoon, with less than an hour to go until the end of school. James was crying and asking to use the bathroom a lot, with more crying as the only product. He was done for the day.

I picked him up, after sighing mightily on the way over; 45 minutes doesn't sound like much of a difference in a day, until it's suddenly gone from my "Me" time, before a 3-day weekend, when I'll have most of the kid duty.

Once home, I asked James about how he was feeling, his tummy in particular. He kept saying "I fine," yet emitted little wails about 20 minutes apart. No fever. Refused food. Mmmm, hmmmm. All stopped up, in more ways than one.

No going out that night, we had to cancel our plans for a Date Night. I felt guilty for getting him off his schedule on Thursday by going to the gym's daycare later than usual. James will use the bathrooms there, but only if he *must,* so it's pretty safe to say that was less than helpful for his digestive process. We were late for the gym because his sister's homework had piled up, in part because no assignments were done on Monday, James' birthday, and it took a while to get all the work finished.

About an hour into our impromptu night home, James become unstopped. I was told they were record-worthy in mass. He relaxed and became his normal, cheery self, which is a relief. However, we've reverted to pull ups at night again. We've had to step up wiping tutorials.

One little thing. Or maybe nothing in particular. And we're set back and our lives get put on hold for a bit. I know in the scope of what's out there that this is small. It doesn't feel like that, right when it happens.

Bidding Adieu to Potty Training

We are close! So close I can well, not taste it, but get excited about it.

Oh sure, we've flirted with overnight dryness, but over this past Winter Break, James has decided it's time. Time for no more pull ups. Time for only underpants. His track record over the past few weeks has been impressive. Very impressive!

Not that we're free and clear from working on toilet training matters. I think our last biggest hurdle will be wiping. There's just no delicate way to get around the fact that the proper use of toilet paper has not been mastered. Yet.

But hey, when I think of what we were going through last year, and how toilet training stopped our days and caused many tears (oh. mah. gawd!), and look at how well he's doing right now? I am confident that he'll master this too. And probably much sooner than I think he will.

SOOC Saturday: Dino Guy

James woke me up early, yelling "Roar, Mommy! Roar! Roar! ROAR!!!!!!!" Because he was awake, and wanted to quote from his favourite book. Lucky that kid is cute. I turned on his light and let him read, explaining that it was too early to get up. Half an hour later, he actually came out of his room and hunted me down, explaining that "Is morning. Not early. NOT!"

Well, close enough to our regular morning time. I got up. I can't really complain, as this is the first time he's come out of his room in the morning on his own. Also, I like to reward good sentences. He's been full of them and I want them to keep coming.

James is getting much better about dressing himself and playing with others. He loves it when he can join in and be silly or jump around. Potty training progresses. Yesterday, for over an hour hour, he played quietly in his room while his sister made up exciting soap opera drama (and songs) with her dolls in her room. During this interlude, James got up by himself and used the bathroom, flushing the toilet and redressing himself each time.

He is more confident in his climbing and talking. He even asks for things in a dinosaur roar sometimes. Like this morning.

The Slurping Life dusts off and starts anew. Visit Melody and check out SOOC Saturday/Sunday entries past & present!



  

Irony, a New Definition

Irony is, missing the presentation on the cool Kindergarten program that we feel our son could benefit from, given all his wonderful progress this year, because ... we are still wresting with the BM portion of potty training.

The latest edition did us all in before the presentation started, by which time my son was passed out in bed, having passed a ginormous ... payload (thank goodness his sister had slapped a diaper on him after our last try to use the toilet). He never even twitched an eyebrow as I cleaned him up and tucked him away for bed.

I have called the Regional Center and asked for a Behavioural Consultant for help. When life stops because of this issue, then it becomes Not Okay.

All Plugged Up & Don't Wanna Go

For the past month, James has been waging a "not gonna poop" campaign. It's been ugly. It started while we were on vacation (of course) and each skirmish lasts about 3 days.

I have tried:

• prune juice (he throws it up, and everything else that's near his digestive tract)


• more water and less milk/bananas, etc


• suppositories (eeewwwwww; and he still won't poop)


• Miralax (more than the pediatrician said to use)

Recently, his wonderful SHAPE assistant had a breakthrough -- she downloaded a game onto her iPhone for him and kept taking him to the bathroom. He could only use the game while sitting on the toilet. He pooped twice for her. Yay, wonderful SHAPE assistant!!!

Will he do this for me? Of course not! I am his mother, and I don't have an iPhone. Duh! I am seriously thinking of writing a grant to cover the cost of an iPhone and it's monthly fees until he has passed this stage and is successfully potty-trained.

I suspect this is because he's fighting the last part of being potty trained, plus the sensation of passing his BMs on the toilet is freaking him out. The delight of testing limits with teacher and parents is an added bonus, I am sure.

A lot of well-meaning people have suggested offering special food treats or toys for when he has successful bathroom transactions. I am here to tell you all thanks, but James does not operate that way. I wish it was that simple.

Flush With Success

Have I bragged lately about James' progress with potty training? We are now only resorting to diapers at nap and bed time. He hardly ever has an accident anymore.

I think he is motivated by getting to bear down on the handle:


... and getting to use the facilities like his big sister.

He does not even fuss at the noise of the whooshing water or the whirr of the bathroom fans. Atta boy, James!

Mission Improbable: Potty Training

Warning: Potty talk ahead.

Good news: James has met all but one of his IEP goals and his next meeting for next year's goals has been moved up 6 weeks!

Not so good news: That elusive goal is Potty Training. James is happily ambivalent when it comes to Potty Training. Other people on the potty are fascinating. But sitting on that seat? No way! He literally digs in his heels and locks his knees, yelling "NO!"

It's small comfort to me that the school has been encouraging James to use the potty since he began preschool last This January. I have been shirking my duty. I have encouraged interest in going potty and check in with him verbally if he's gone pee-pee or poo-poo. He became rather good at telling me as the events occurred and I praised this. But trying to take him to the bathroom produced distinctly lackluster results.

So his teacher, SHAPE aid and I all agreed -- potty training starts NOW. I set up his potty seat in the bathroom and have started dressing him in big boy underpants (hand-me-downs from his cousin) and a diaper cover under his pants. We periodically take him to the bathroom, even though James prefers to continue bodily functions under cover, as it were. My stealth guy!

Soon he stopped talking with me about pee-pee & poo-poo, parrying all queries with a "NO!" He stopped having bowel movements until he was in his night-time diapers. Sigh. So then we'd do diaper change #2 for the night and make a kind of burial-at-sea ritual out of tumbling the diaper contents into the toilet, and saying "bye-bye" as they were flushed away.

However, on Thursday, his teacher reported in his handy dandy school notebook that he told her that day as soon as he'd gone pee-pee in his underpants. Progress? I'll take it!

I am also writing a letter of support for his teacher's request to move their classroom to a location that has a bathroom attached. I cannot believe I haven't done this before. I would have gone raving bonkers trying to get a small group of kids potty trained across a school campus and down a corridor from where I was also trying to teach said class. Gah! and Duh! (Two words that I will, of course, not use in my letter).