Oh there is a God!

Well I made my resolution that this was the time to potty train my sweet little Alexandra. After writing it last night, I woke up feeling that it had to be now or never - my inner Elvis came a shinin' through! So after her morning at school, she came home full of smiles and joy. I had removed all diaper temptation from the house, lest I weaken and just opt for the quiet life. Her immediate request was for a diaper but I calmly told her that there were no more diapers and she would have to use the toilet from now on. This did not seem to bother her at first but as the afternoon progressed and her bladder ballooned, she became more agitated. She would go to the toilet, sit for a moment and then simply get up and leave. Still no actual elimination of bladder matter! After 6 hours of this, she became very mad and I almost buckled but I held firm and (look away faint of heart) I locked the bathroom door and left her to it. She was mad for about 5 minutes, but then I heard nothing for a while and I managed to look under the little space beneath the door (what do you do on a Friday evening?) and saw that the floor was soaked and so was she. She had finally peed! Granted it was all over the floor, but it was in the bathroom and I took that as my victory for the day. But there was more to come. After giving her enough positive reinforcement to sink a ship, she was given all kinds of love and the ice cream that she had been begging for all day. An hour later, it happened. She simply got up from the couch, went into the bathroom, put her little stool next to the toilet, put her seat on the toilet seat, climbed up and peed into the toilet - no muss, no fuss. I cannot explain how gut wrenchingly, overwhelmingly, unbelievably proud of her I was at that moment but it just made me feel awash in love and hope and all of those good things that make us warm and fuzzy inside. Yes today was a great day. Tomorrow? Who knows. Today - they cannot take it away!

one of our alps of autism has been climbed!