Hellooo Mr. Potty!!! and....Goodbye....

I would like to say as I write this that I am creating the most interesting and thought provoking three-dimensional sculpture out of the remaining 30 diapers that we have left, but after three hours of Barney videos, Swedish Fish, Matchbox Cars and 5 pairs of Nemo underwear,I raised myself up from the bathroom floor, took Nemo, tossed him down into the dark depths of the basement, turned around and literally embraced the left over piles of diapers. FREEDOM!!!

Gabe has many of the "readiness signs", but two important ones. He does not tell you when he has to go/does not fully realize when he is going and he frequently urinates- very frequently. He does not know how to fully empty his bladder at one sitting. A child should be able to remain dry for an hour or two at a time. Gabe can go maybe 10 minutes. His ABA school had taken data about a month ago, which showed he urinated twice/sometimes three times an hour. I just thought, maybe, if we practiced his bladder would adjust. He's just not developmentally there. I could buy the whole alarm when you pee contraption, but I do not think we're at that point yet. I'm OK with the "let's wait and see what happens."
We did see many great "signs of readiness", he is able to sit for a few minutes to wait to go potty, he did not have any problems with a BM (in the toilet I might add :o), he enjoys the whole potty routine before and afterwards, the Nemo underwear was not an issue, and he seems to understand the whole purpose of the bathroom. What a wonderful discovery session we had today.

I feel good about trying to potty train Gabe. Now I know, we tried, he's not ready, we'll try later. We're thinking when he is 3 1/2 in November. We picked this new time, because it gives him time to adjust to all the changes that happen in the beginning of the new school year. It gives us time to adapt to how our public school system is going to fit into Gabe's life, SD going back to work and just juggling everyone's schedules for awhile.

I feel that we became an even closer family today. We pulled together, worked towards achieving a certain goal and then embraced each other when the plans changed. How awesome are we? :o)