First the good news: David is peeing regularly without any lapses. He’s been getting more than his share of sweets, but I just reduced the reward to a few skittles, and he’s still doing just fine.
Second, the background. I’ve never tried to make David go poop. I’ve made him try once (about six months ago), but he’s not seemed to be resistant to trying. He just doesn’t seem to care. I’ve asked him if he had to go, and his reply is always no, even if he goes right after he says that (happened twice in the last few days). Today I decided that, given he’s obviously deliberately avoiding the toilet, I would simply make him sit on the toilet and try. It doesn’t matter whether anything comes out– you just have to try.
I got my opportunity today when I noticed David was passing gas. Now I know that when a person has to go poop, gas sometimes precedes the poop. I decided David needed to simply sit on the toilet. I figure if he doesn’t have a choice about sitting, then he’ll figure out that he may as well poop while he’s there. That’s the theory, anyway.
But David didn’t want to sit on the toilet. He didn’t want to try. He didn’t want Mommy to pray and ask God to help him do right. He sat for at least two hours on the toilet [Note from Michelle rereading this 8 years later: I would not recommend this approach. This was unhelpful and unkind in retrospect.]. He eventually told me that it was okay if I prayed and asked God to help him do right even if he didn’t want to, but he still didn’t want to try. I finally allowed him to lie down (he was falling asleep sitting up). I told him he’d be on the potty when he got up. Sooner or later, he will figure out that I will win, and it is more trouble for him to resist.
I’ll post what happens when he wakes up….
Leave a Reply