Jackie 2 Year Milestones

Things have been so busy since we’ve been expecting our second little girl that I haven’t been able to post about Jackie’s behavior or milestones. Since I originally started this as a toileting blog, I thought I should update this to determine if taking her to the potty so early in life was successful in leading her to independence.

She turned two on March 27th, and has been potty trained and only in underwear for months! She initiates and is also taken on a schedule just in case. She earns a fruit snack for peeing in the potty and a lollipop for pooping in the potty. We are very happy we made it a routine early in life so it’s always been a part of her life. We didn’t have to do much training to teach her to be independent because she has been so accustomed to sitting and going from a young age. Yesterday we went to DC to the zoo all day and went to Dave and Busters for dinner until 9pm. She stayed in the same underwear all day—she peed in the potty each time we took her and pooped twice in the potty! I was so amazed and proud of her. She surprises even me with how good she is getting with toileting successfully. This morning was another time where she requested to poop in the potty without just going on a schedule. We are very happy with our decision to toilet her as an infant and to make sitting in the bathroom part of her regular routine. It made my day to see her so successful with toileting, especially when in public all day. She has generalized beautifully.

On the metro on the way home from DC, Jackie was talking to her relatives on the train, saying hello to everyone, singing, and speaking sentences. The woman next to me asked how old she was and I said she just turned two. The woman continued to tell me that she was a Speech pathologist and very impressed with Jackie’s language! That also made my day yesterday! It’s always nice to hear her accomplishments aren’t all in my head because I am her mom!

2 year appointment: As you know I am a board certified behavior analyst, so I have been working hard to help build communication and independence in Jackie. We went to the 2 year pediatrician appointment on her birthday, and the pediatrician was very excited to hear Jackie talking and laughing in the room. They asked me to get her down to her diaper, and were shocked that she was in underwear. I expected her to be shy and not demonstrate her language skills, but she was talking in full sentences to the doctor during the session. To top it off, in the middle of our appointment, she independently went toward the door and said “I have to go sit down potty, mommy” and started opening the door. When we came back from the bathroom, the pediatrician asked for my business card :)

Milestones by her second birthday: She has a very big vocabulary and usually speaks in 5-8 word sentences. We hardly see any tantrum behavior and I believe her language is a big reason for that, because she has learned using her words is easier. She can count in order from 1-13. She knows basic shapes and she does now know her colors yet. She is potty trained and is only in underwear during the day. She only wears a diaper at night (although she often wakes up dry.) Eventually, wearing underwear at night will be our next step in this process.

Happy Second Birthday, Jackie!

Toileting Jackie

This past week, Jackie is increasing her toileting frequency while remaining dry. Twice this week, Jackie (with a diaper on) has stayed dry, came to me and said she had to "Pee Pee" and then went into the potty and voided immediately on the potty. This is the most she has initiated and actually voided. She often lets me know she just went, especially in waterproof underwear, but this is the first time she seems to be understanding to stay dry and then request. She'll even say "I'm dry" and look for a high five from me. So, she's getting it!

The first time this week that she initiated was after a long trip to my brother's wedding in NY, where we didn't take her to the bathroom the entire busy trip. When we got home, I was afraid she may have to start over or have unlearned something, because she went three whole days just voiding in diapers and not requesting. However, the minute we got home she pointed to her diaper and said potty and she pooped on the potty! A few days later she was dry and said Pee Pee and urinated on the potty.

These aren't the only times she has voided in the toilet. But I mention these because she specifically initiated prior to voiding, which is very exciting! We also changed her reward to fruit snacks, which she has never had before this, so this may be helpful in rewarding her for voiding!


For such a little person, she is learning so quickly!


On a side note, I also have to mention that she is now speaking in 2-3 word sentences, which amazes me. e.g.: Hi daddy, Lets go, I did it etc! This is remarkable to me! She is learning so quickly in every aspect of her teenie tiny beautiful baby life!


Until Next Time,
Colleen

Toileting-60% accuracy and self reporting!

Jackie only had two accidents today when I forgot to trip her. Both times, she came to me and pointed to her diaper saying Pee Pee!!! At least she lets me know she needs to be changed! And at least she's aware of what she's doing!!! Very proud of my little one!! She peed twice in the potty during the today too! She also went to bed dry at 6:30pm. I woke her at 10:30pm and she was still dry. She peed in the potty!!! 60% (3/5) accuracy today for voiding in the potty appropriately! She turns 18 months on Tuesday!

Colleen Williams, BCBA

Toileting Update September 2011

Current Status of our toileting.

Successful Voids: As Jackie gets older, ironically, successful voids are decreasing for now. She is so excited to run and play that she has little interest in sitting still in the bathroom. She does still successfully void in the toilet, but it isn't an everyday occurrence like it used to be. It happens more on the weekend because she's in her waterproof underwear and I am more aware of toilet training (to protect the rug of any accidents) and she is more aware because she can feel it. But, she does void successfully (average last weekend was 66%) and she is almost always lets me know when she's peeing/pooping so I can take her/change her diaper. So that's something!


Waterproof Underwear: She is more successful in days that I have her in waterproof underwear (usually all day any weekend we don't have to go anywhere). She holds her urination longer probably because she feels uncomfortable peeing in the underwear. She usually goes 3 hours dry consistently (so I don't have to trip her every half hour any more!) She also lets me know immediately each time she is about to pee or is peeing in her underwear so I can bring her to the bathroom. Often times, she stops herself peeing when she feels it in her waterproof underwear and I can sit her on the potty and get some success in the toilet!!


Initiation: She has gotten to the point where she announces loudly and clearly that she is either peeing or pooping and she points to her diaper. however, she will continue to run and play. She hasn't quite figured out that if she says she has to go she should run to the bathroom. There are some times when Jackie does initiate and runs straight to the bathroom, but that is not frequent enough. However, it is very frequent that she gains a persons attention and points to her diaper saying "pee Pee' or " poo poo." I just have to get that to mean something for her.

Jackie is more likely to run straight to the bathroom when peeing if she's in waterproof underwear but she will point to herself and announce that she's going even when in diapers like today!!! This is a good sign to me that even in diapers she's becoming more aware!


So she's getting there and she's becoming more aware of toileting, and is successful voiding occasionally still. I don't feel as confident about her success as I did 6 months to a year ago when we first started this toileting experience but I know she's showing more signs of readiness now than she was. Before it was all me taking her, now she's initiating and walking there inconsistently but still! I am proud to have a 17 month old who over half of the time voids successfully in the toilet and who tells me she's peeing or pooping and points to her diaper while doing so!!! Overall toileting our infant has been successful so far!




She's a smart girl, and she'll get there when she gets there.



Happy toileting,
Colleen Williams, BCBA

Waterproof and magical

Jackie and toileting has been an ongoing discussion in this blog since she was very very small. Yesterday and today we decided to try some waterproof underwear to replace her diapers, since she is already familiar using the bathroom and has been doing fairly well with staying dry in her diapers. She had one urination accident at 10am. She was in her waterproof underwear when she had the accident and felt herself go. She looked down and said "Uh Oh". I took her to the bathroom and emptied the urine that pooled inside the underwear like I do whenever she has dirty diapers. She waves bye bye and we flush it away so she knows where its supposed to go. Since that first accident, she stayed dry and clean all day (until 4pm when we left the house and I put a diaper back on her).

Since that first accident, she would run into the bathroom or say Momma and point to the bathroom door. I would take her into the bathroom, pull down her underwear, and she would pee in the potty! However, at 3:30pm, she ran into the bathroom and sat down on the potty and peed independently. Unfortunately, she did not remove her underwear. I still consider this progress because she urinated sitting down on the toilet as she is supposed to and that is really what I want her to get used to. She had one BM. She began to go in her waterproof underwear but must have felt it because she darted to the toilet and did most of it in the potty. She also made me empty her underwear into the toilet so she could say goodbye to it as we flushed. She definitely knows where its supposed to go!

Today we only did it for a couple hours because we went to church and I didn't want to experiment outside the house, obviously. So, from 9-11:30 she stayed completely dry with no accidents in her underwear!

We saved so many diapers just by letting her wear the underwear this weekend! I truly feel she is more aware of holding it and controls when she goes now that she can feel it in her underwear as opposed to her diaper.

Bye bye for now!

Separation Anxiety

I should really report on Jackie’s past few weeks she has developed an extreme and adorable attachment to me. She only wants me (which is a nice change from her only wanting her daddy when she was younger). However, it is getting to be somewhat of a hindrance on my life. Today she was on my leg more often than ever, not letting me go anywhere without her as my shadow. She is teething recently so she has wanted to cuddle with me more, but it is getting to the point I can’t do anything without a whine or a cry. I am staying strong. I can hear the whine and not run to hold her, but it’s difficult because part of me wants to run next to her just to keep her from being upset. But, most of me knows she’ll be okay and be more independent. She’s learning I am coming right back (I went into the next room not off a cliff). Although her little tears and little cry is hard to hear, daddy and aunts and uncles will keep her just as safe, and accepting separation is a good thing. I know with all my heart that this will pass. It is difficult that when I want to independently get things done, I have a year old anchor wanting me to constantly hold her. I have gotten good doing things one handed, but sometimes it’s important to let her know I am not going anywhere for long.

An important thing to note is that although it’s slightly frustrating having a little one holding onto me, most of me is just trying not to smile. I am secretly loving every minute of it! I know that when she’s older I am going to miss her desire for my attention, and I’ll be the one begging for hers.

Toileting Initiation Update

Jackie pooped in the potty on Monday! More than that, she initiated that she was about to go! She stopped playing and running, pointed to her diaper repeatedly, and looked at me as if I was talking to her. I took her to the bathroom and she pooped in the potty within about a minute of sitting down on the potty. It was absolutely amazing! She hasn’t pooped in the potty during trips in so long, so the fact that she actually went was amazing! Not to mention she kind of initiated beforehand, which makes me feel like this toileting stuff I have been doing with her has served a purpose.

She did this whole pointing to her diaper repeatedly and looking at me on Saturday, but by the time I realized she was trying to tell me something and I got her to the bathroom, she had already gone in her diaper! So when she did it again on Monday, I took her immediately there and she pooped in the toilet! She just turned 16 months old!