Cade's Big Changes

When you look at Cade's life over the last couple weeks it has changed dramatically.  So much so that I really can't even believe it.  Last Monday I took him to the doctor for his three year check.  In talking to the doctor we discussed the lack of potty training that was happening in our house.  I informed her that I didn't think Cade would ever want to potty on the toilet.  He has said that he's scared of sitting on the toilet and that he wants to wear diapers forever.  Nothing we tried was even slightly successful in getting him to do anything on the toilet.  The doctor told me a story about her daughter who was also scared of the potty.  Her daughter's really wanted a pair of ballet slippers so every time she was on the potty for a little bit she could play with the slippers for 10 minutes.  I realized that for Cade we had been thinking too small scale with candy and other things as an incentive.  That morning he had mentioned to me that we needed to go to the movie store to buy a Larryboy toy.  Apparently he thinks there's a store somewhere that has all the toys from movies that he watches.  So, on the way home from the doctor I decided to give the doctor's theory a try.  We stopped at Lemstone to see what they had and we found a Larryboy helicopter with action figures.  That afternoon we started letting him play with it for 10 minutes every time he sat on the potty.  You know what?  He sat right on there no longer scared and crying like we had experienced the last six months.  

Throughout the week he started asking me to go sit on the potty so he'd be able to play with his new toy.  Then on Saturday Mitch and I decided we were going to see if we could get him to sit there for an extended period of time after lunch to see what would happen.  We told him there would be an extra special surprise if he was successful in going potty.  The three of us camped out in the bathroom for probably half an hour talking and looking at pictures on Mitch's phone trying to distract him long enough.  Then it happened.  He pottied!! As soon as Mace woke up from his nap we packed everyone into the car and headed out for celebratory ice cream at Orange Leaf.  By Sunday he was going so well we decided to let him wear big boy underwear.  So far we have been to my parents house, out for dinner, and to my sisters house all in underwear with no accidents during those outings.  He cries now if we put him in a diaper.  

Just all of a sudden he has completely made a change.  Once he understood what was happening he picked right up on it and is doing great.  He has had accidents a couple times during quiet time and immediately comes crying because he doesn't like that his pants are wet - an encouraging sign.  I hope he keeps on track and I can start working on Mace so I have no more diapers in this house.  That would be so awesome.

Later last Monday after Cade's doctor's appointment he had speech.  The therapist shocked me by telling me she wanted to test Cade again because she wants to discharge him.  I know that he still has lots of issues with his speech abilities but he has come such a long way over the last year.  He has been catching on so fast to her articulation lessons and she thinks he's ready to be done.  I think part of it is that he doesn't like going any more and she's having a hard time getting him to do anything lately.  So this Monday she finished her testing and recommended discharge.  He still actually qualifies for therapy with his test results but was only one point away.  We decided a break would be good for him and we'll continue to work with him at home.  If we feel that he's falling behind again we can always get him tested again and back in for more therapy.  Right now he's just really excited to not have to go there every week.