necessities, continued.

I do have a toileting update.

But first, I just want to share something. And this is gross. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Earlier today I took a nice leisurely walk around the lake near us. (Well, sort of leisurely... we not only live in the country, but in the mountains in the country, so there are definitely some gigantic hills.)

The perimeter of the lake is approximately two miles, & figuring in the route I chose to get there I'd say I walked a total of three miles. Nothing too ambitious but just enough that it felt productive.

I snapped several pictures along the way... mostly lake views & a few brooks running through the woods. Near a couple of the pictures I took there happened to be these weird squashed things in the road... I didn't take a picture of them because they looked gross, but I was telling Dan about them. The first one I saw I thought looked like a small tomato or some sort of fruit possibly... one with a reddish inside.

They could have come from anywhere, really... been dropped, littered, fallen out of something, etc. But I stopped at the third one I saw to take a closer look, because this one was slightly different in shape. And then I realized why.

Attached to this nasty squashed thing, there was definitely a pair of frogs legs. I was nauseous & cringing (still am), but at the same time at least it made sense. They were probably hopping across the road because the brook runs beneath it, & most likely got run over by a car. (Poor things.)

It's pretty disgusting & sad, but the thing is I was telling Dan I saw them near the corner of Hemlock & Elm. At least I was pretty sure those were the street names, but sometimes I get confused which is which.

Anyway, Hayden happened to be in the room with us but he was watching his iPad & didn't really comment... nothing like, "Eeew, gross! Me hate frogs!" Which is exactly the type of thing he'd say.

He didn't seem to be paying attention at all. He looked sort of mesmerized with whatever was on the screen.

About four hours later I was showing Hayden the pictures I took on my walk today. "This one was Hillcrest," I said... "and this one was Old Creamery, and this one was Hemlock, this one was Elm... well, this was near the corner of Helmock & Elm--"

He interrupted me, "Where you saw frogs?"

Unfreakinbelievable.

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So, from one pleasantry to the next...

He did pretty well with toileting today. Overall, pretty well. 

Despite the fact that he went through three pairs of pants (I believe the fourth stayed dry), & despite the fact that there were some meltdowns, he was successful on the toilet many times today.

I think overall the main issue was that he didn't want to wear underwear for some reason, so he was mostly commando for the day. After bath we took his iPad away because once again he refused to put underwear on.

I would not have any issue with him wearing pajamas without underwear, if circumstances were different. But for now we need him to understand that the underwear is an absolute must. Once he truly gets the hang of this, then maybe we can work on exceptions.

Finally when he peed on the toilet some time after bath, I was able to get underwear on him at that point. I reminded him he must wear underwear tomorrow as well.
 
There is one other particularly encouraging detail. We took him out to dinner & then went to the park for a little bit. When we got home he did in fact comply with going to the bathroom & he also peed... but equally important, Dan said his pull-up seemed dry.

This may or may not be why he was suddenly ready to leave the park-- that could be a bit of a stretch-- but even if he didn't know for sure that he had to go, he obviously held it until we were home.

I don't know why the carryover from school to home has been so tough. That is a global statement by the way, for everything that has proven to be a tough carryover... medicine included, & the lack thereof certainly not helping any of the aforementioned.

This was not an easy day & it likely sounds much simpler than it actually was. However, so far, it was the most progress we have ever made at home in one day.

Not ready to uncross my fingers, but very proud of him.

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Update from Monday...

Basically similar to the weekend. He came home from school in underwear again, but it was visible he had a little accident on the way home.

I didn't really react to this & just brought him in the bathroom. He peed but we started all over again with the underwear resistance.

This week is a shorter route home because one of the students will not be on the van, so we are trying the return home in underwear daily.

Not sure what a difference four more days will make, but at least we can say we'll see & we tried. 

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