1st Attempt at Potty Training

The saying goes, boys are more difficult to potty train than girls, I've heard it a million times. I'm sure it's true, but I can't go there with Chris. I was in the business of comparing his development to that of Bella's all the time, and until we got his diagnosis is when I realized that there is no comparison and to stop making myself nuts over it as well as being unfair to him by doing such. I decided to make the plunge and begin potty training Chris, but in typical Beth fashion, had to take note that not only is he a boy, but also a boy on the autism spectrum...and the first time I ever potty trained anyone, it was a typical girl who was 2 1/2, so there I go with the comparisons.

For it being so new, he did well. He still has not put together the sensation part and what he is supposed to do just yet, but if I consistently put him on the potty after feeding him salty corn chips and lots of water, he'll pee. So we got about 4 pee pees and 1 poop in the potty so far. We had 2 incidents where he pooped in his under ware, but I had a feeling that he was waiting for a diaper to be put on to poop because he held it for a day. So overall so far, he's making progress and hopefully we'll start to see his potty skills emerge. He looks so damn cute in his little underpants, I'll have to post a photo.

Lots of exciting news on the Rochester Autism Mothers Unite project. I sent in our submission and decided to take it to another level. Instead of just sending in our picture, I put our story behind it. The Susan B. Anthony history and how it ties into our lives as mothers of children with special needs. I couldn't decide on one picture to send, so I sent in five and figured I would let them determine which to print in the magazine. Long story short, two days later I got an email from the Editor in Chief herself (she wasn't even the one I sent the submission to) telling me how fabulous the photos were (she is from the UK, so I can just hear her say "fabulous" with that British accent) and how they will be in the next issue of the magazine, which happens to be the April issue which will coincide with Autism Awareness Month...how fitting is THAT?! The anticipation is killing me...I have to find out when the magazine hits the stands. So I got butterflies in my stomach when I saw her name in my inbox. Her name is Polly Tommey and she is a former British actress and model turned autism mother advocate. She is a major supporter of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who is the doctor that suggested there was a possible link between vaccines and autism in a 1998 study. Since then his paper that was published in The Lancet, which is a prominent medical journal was retracted a couple of weeks ago (it's been all over the news) and Dr. Wakefield has been hung out to dry. It's a touchy subject in our community...you either support or despise him. I feel bad for the poor guy...he truly helped many children and families with his discovery of the connection of autism and gut issues. So for me it was cool to see Polly's name in my in box after seeing it in so many articles and all over the internet. I never expected that to happen...I was just hoping for a little snippet of one picture in the upper right hand corner of a page. Would I be greedy if I said I really wanted the cover ;-)?