One Swell Poop

It has happened. The day for which I have waited for years, the one that I dreamed would come and thought never would. T has pooped in the toilet – the whole job, beginning to end!!! One flushable Cottonelle Wipe, and we were done. Not only did he poop in the toilet today, but Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, too. 4 DAYS IN A ROW!!! Okay, I still have to catch him Assuming The Position, but he knows what to do now, and tonight after dinner he TOLD me he had to go. Yes, he had already peed in his tighty whities, but he promptly pooped in the toilet for the second time today!!!

Ah.

I think back to all those hours I have spent sitting on the bathroom floor – of our house in Small College Town and here. Back to the days when I couldn't even get him to step foot into the bathroom because he knew I was going to try to get him to sit on the toilet, and the mere thought of that was too aversive for him. How long it took for him to be willing to sit on the toilet, even for a few seconds. Then the endless stream of days, weeks, months and even years (yes, YEARS) that I would catch him about to poop, take him to the bathroom, sit him on the toilet, watch DVDs, sing, talk, read books about potty training…and nothing would come…until after I had given up and he pooped in his Pull Up 10 minutes later when I wasn't watching. I have felt so incredibly defeated and hopeless…until now. All the hard work has FINALLY paid off.

Dare I say it? I think he's got it.

And you know what? If he can learn to poop on the toilet, then he can learn to ride a bike. He could learn how to write his name. He could learn how to have a conversation. He could learn to read. To have a friend. To watch a TV show with a plot & follow the story. To use a computer. To have a job. It may be in his own time, and it may take the sweat & tears of his parents & countless teachers & therapists, but he'll do it, by God. He'll do it.

All this from poop. But I'm feeling really good today.