Wednesday 11 May 2011

Can I hear a 'whoop! whoop!'?!

So, have not blogged for a while now - partly because I get into trouble for spending too much time on the computer, but also because there always seems so much to say and not enough time to say it.

Tonight, however, I want to share some great news - Sasha wears big girl knickers!! As in, she's fully potty trained, day and night!

I had the great pleasure today of taking a full (unopened, unused!) pack of nappies back to the store for a refund. I have of course still got a small secret stack of nappies, but hope desperately I'll never have to stand on that chair to get them back down....

I'm amazed as this was the last big 'issue' for us to conquer, and we'd decided to put it off until after our next holiday. Towards the end of these Easter school holidays however, Sasha started 'toying' with wearing knickers a bit more - mostly when she thought she wouldn't need the nappy. So we had very few accidents at first fortunately (although could have done without the particularly large one on the only new carpet in the house...!).

When it came to the first day back at school nursery, she asked to wear the knickers so we just went with the flow (pardon the pun Smiley ). She had a wee accident 2 days in a run at nursery but by the 3rd day had sussed it all by herself, and also asked for the knickers at night-time! I was slightly apprehensive about the middle of the night sheet changing palaver, but (squeezing wood very tightly here) she has managed to stay dry every night since.

On Sunday she got very distressed when she was trying to get to the potty but didn't quite make it in time, and though she asked for the nappy back, I stayed strong - phew! Ever since she has taken great delight in 'making mummy happy', and she shows us every single wee and poo on the potty, which of course we've been rewarding greatly lest the novelty wears off. I'm particularly pleased that although she favours the potty downstairs right now, she doesn't seem to have an issue with sitting on the toilet here or elsewhere either - we were warned that if she learnt one thing (i.e. the potty) she may hold onto just that for a long while.

So fingers crossed it continues.. roll on having more space in the luggage for packing my own clothes this time we go away!! Sasha is 4 next month and I know lots of people would not see it as an achievement for her to be trained so late, but believe me it was worth the wait to have the pain-free result.


Today I'm feeling slightly worn down. Sasha has been in a brilliant mood over the last couple of weeks, so she's not overly challenging at the moment, and of course she's as adorable as ever. However, it is difficult to describe just how wearing and irritating it is to be asked the same question around 30 times in the space of 3 hours... 'is it raining mummy?' or a slight variation 'it's not raining, is it?' or even 'is it summer?'.... It doesn't matter how many times I answer these questions, they still get repeated. I mean, I know we've been lucky with dry warm weather for quite a while now, but we only had a few spots today! Poor old Tamsin was also on the receiving end of it as Sasha requested her favourite recorded TV programme several times in a row this evening (despite it being on!!). This might sound petty and something that should be easy to deal with, but repetition and persistence are two keywords that come along with Sasha's autism sometimes - I'm sure I'll blog about that another time!

9 comments:

  1. Hi Steph, fantastic news about the toilet training - I hope it continues. Sorry to hear youre feeling worn down; I know what you mean about constant questioning. My youngest daughter (with aspergers) often asks me loads of questions about something until she is reassured - it can feel quite a strain answering constant questions in a way that can help her feel less worried. Funnily enough we've had isssues with rain. She used to get frightened about the noise of heavy rain and constantly worry about flooding though she used to love the feel of light drizzle on her head. Fingers crossed she seems to be a bit better at the moment but we havent had rain for ages so Im not sure the worry about rain has gone.

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  2. Ohhh YAAAAY! Sooo chuffed for you honey! I can't wait till Max is potty trained. He's not showing *any* signs of being remotely ready yet though. Again, I think it's something that'll come when he's got the talking down to a tee. ;) xx

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  3. YAY on the potty training, that's a huge accomplishment!!

    And I've been busted for being on the computer too much too, now I only post M/W/F and that's it.

    And the repetition, uggghhh! That can wear down even a military general. Hang in there.

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  4. Congratulations! Big achievements - for both of you (well done mum for hanging in there!)

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  5. I think you've done really well with the potty training. We finally got Nipper (autistic & sensory problems) potty trained just in time to start school! He's almost 5 and there's no chance of him going through the night yet. Well done!

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  6. Great news about the potty training :) And I think aspie in the family is onto something - perhaps the repetition is due to anxiety? So I wonder if you could reduce the repetition by finding out what is bothering her? I hope I'm not talking complete rubbish, but it seems that anxiety is the cause of a lot of my boy's problems x

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  7. Thanks all for the lovely comments - I'm still on a high as we've been out to a pub for tea with friends today, on a spontaneous impulse (I know, rubbish mum ;) ) and she even asked to go to the toilet, in plenty of time. And earlier today she even emptied her own wee out of the potty into the toilet!! Quite glad she didn't try that with the poo though.... Never thought it could be this good. She's an angel ;)

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  8. oh and bluesky think you're right about the anxiety. will just have to work harder on telling her everything that might happen (i.e. her hood falling down, her hair getting wet...!)

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  9. YAY Sasha!

    That's wonderful progress :)

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