Two Steps Forward...

Two steps forward, one step back; that's the potty training shuffle! Yeah! I feel pretty strongly that "jazz hands" would finish off the dance nicely.

Further news from the Toilet Bowl playoffs:

Winning game for the home team (Mom): both kids did "number two" in the potty on the same day, and the youngest added some beautiful "number one" plays, staying dry most of the day.

Winning games for the other team (A and K): neither did anything in the potty for three consecutive days after the fabulousness listed above.

It's been a while, but I have to say, again, that the recording of the potty training process is probably not typical blogging material, but it is a challenge we are facing with A's autism. So I duly record some of the triumphs and setbacks we encounter along the journey, if for nothing else than to give someone else the reassurance that another family has been through/is going through the same thing, and to give a small glimpse into our personal struggles, and hopes, and fears for those who have no experience with special needs whatsoever. Including other members of our immediate family, this is a first for both my and Z's sides.

I have tried to maintain a sense of humor about it, but admit that as time passes...and passes...frustration creeps in much more easily now than it used to at the onset of the process. A will be 5 in a couple of weeks, and it is gross to have to clean the rear end of someone who passes excrement with the full-bodied, ah, aroma of a bigger kid/adult. We are praying that he "gets it" one day (preferably sooner than later!), but we also know that some kids never do, and there are adults that have their toiletry needs taken care of by another individual. And we are willing to deal with that, too, if it comes to that.

But for now, we are still going to keep trying to instill proper toilet etiquette, we still hope for a fully potty-trained A. I'm sure there is a point beyond which continuing the toilet training would be folly, when it is apparent that it's just not going to happen (again, realizing there are adults that still need help), but we are not to that point and pray we don't reach it.

Aside from the daily "to pee, or not to pee?" battle, it would appear that old man winter has engaged in its own playoffs with its preceding season, and kicked fall's colorful butt for a couple of days. We've had rain/snow and freezing rain mix, combined with 30 mph winds (with gusts up to 44 mph) yesterday and lows in the 20's. Let's say it all together, folks: Brrrr! Fall is supposed to rally, though: we are supposed to get back up into the upper 50's, and dare I say even 60 degrees one day next week, all starting on Friday. (So today and tomorrow will still be a bit unseasonable). We live on a hilltop that receives a direct wind out of the mountains from the north and west, so we are a bit more unseasonable than people further east on the plateau. This being our first fall in this house, we are learning about our new micro climate that we live in, which is always different than the weatherman prophesies (given, he's pretty accurate as weathermen go for the in town folks, considering the terribly fickle nature of the weather in the first place).

I enjoy gradual cooling down, my body just can't handle the up and down of normal fall/spring weather, let alone when it goes more berserk than usual for a couple of days. I get sick for about a week every fall and spring, whether I do nothing or mainline copious amounts of sinus medications and extra vitamin C, and it would appear that my children are following in mommy's footsteps. They've both been sniffly and miserable for the last week and a half. First A, then Miss K. Poor dears!