Potty Training Emily (Yes, Emily!)

Emily with her vision teacher, Wendy Drezek, on the last day of school.

Today marked the start of potty training Lily. Officially. We've tried sitting on the toilet before, but today I was determined. She sat on it for an hour while we sang songs before she went, but since then she's gone 3 other times. We also had 3 accidents. But hopefully we're on our way. It's brought back a lot of memories of potty training Emily. Yes, Emily. I don't know how many people knew that she was actually very good at going on the potty, especially from ages 2 1/2-3 1/2. My dad asked me tonight if I'd ever written about it and I said no, and he said I should for other families to know it's possible.

Just before Emily turned 2 she started going to a vision "school" class twice a week. The class had kids ages eighteen months to 3 years old who had vision loss. They ranged from kids who just had vision loss to kids with cerbral palsy with cortical vision loss to kids like Emily who had multiple issues going on at once. Wendy Drezek, the teacher, is AMAZING, and has been teaching for years and years (she could retire but hasn't yet because she loves it). One of the things they would do is every day they would put all the kids (5-7 kids) on the potty. They had a little potty for each kid and they'd hold them from behind and sing a potty song. When I first saw it I really thought they (Wendy and the aides) were crazy.

"There's no way these kids can go on the potty!"I thought.

Not only were they all visually impaired, but most have other developmental and mental challenges, too. Wendy said that they could and do learn. When Emily had been going to the class 3 days a week for few months, after she turned two, I noticed Emily would wake up in the morning with a dry diaper. And shortly after that, I think it was around Febuary or March, when Em was 2 1/2, Wendy told me she'd gone on the potty during class. I was shocked! She was very consistent and by the end of the year would go almost every day on the potty. She was the best in the class! One time she was being evaluated for pre-k and Wendy said she was super fussy, and kept saying "Hold on Emily, we'll go potty in a minute." And then when she got her on the potty she pooped and peed like crazy. Wendy said it was the biggest mess to clean up but she was so proud of Emily for showing off for the evaluation!

We got a potty for the house and Emily got so she would go 3-4 times a day. If she didn't go it was my fault for forgetting to put her on. I would sit on the ground and hold her from behind while she'd go. And then afterwards I'd say, "Good job, Emily!" And she'd get so excited and smile and start talking (Emily talk). We had the most success the summer of Emily's 3rd birthday. She still went to school, but it was with Ms. Rebecca, who was also her vision therapist at home (she taught for Wendy for summer school). She would go to the potty at school, and then at home, too. She'd even go in the middle of the night when she'd wake up. I was always so proud of her. I still have the charts where I kept track of when she'd go. She would also go for my friend Jessica. She'd also go sometimes when therapists were over at our house. I was always so proud every time she would go, I just can't even say how much. She'd go both #1 and #2. When she started pre-K I don't think they quite believed that she would go on the potty, and they also didn't have the time to devote to waiting to hold her on it (more kids, less aides), so she wasn't quite as successful after that. But she'd still go for me at home.

I think Lily is smart for figuring it out, but I also expect her to. I will always be grateful for a teacher who expected things out of Emily that I (who really tried to have high expectations for her) never thought possible!