Toileting - 18 Year Old Style

 
Cameron 18yrs old

The quest for Cameron to become an independent toileter continues. It is painstaking and tiring, frustrating and infuriating. And sometimes it's just plain funny but not very often anymore.

From time to time Cameron has a dry bed and there is much celebration on my part because I don't have linen to wash that day. Then you also have days where you have two or more sets of linen to wash in the morning because it's been an unsettled wet night. My eyes just roll when I get out of bed on those mornings. It's so frustrating.

Cameron goes through phases where he will take himself to the toilet and he does actually go to the toilet. However we still have wet pull ups so he isn't doing it instead, it's just as well.

We have very little success in taking Cameron to the toilet. 99.9% of the time he will not do anything. He just gets frustrated and so do we so we generally don't push the issue.

Lately he has been having a morning wee in the shower and I figure this is fine. It's all going down the drain and he knows he's doing it so that has to be a positive thing. Sometimes he will tell you he needs to go to the toilet after waking up and takes himself off successfully which is always exciting.

The other thing he has been doing I think is a positive sign. You know how toddlers will wait till you put a fresh nappy or pull up on them and then do a poo or a wee? Well Cameron has been doing this a lot lately so I think this is developmentally appropriate. But that's not all.

He has also developed a habit of standing on the front door mat watching the traffic go by and going to the toilet. Toddlers will often have a favourite place to go to the toilet so again I think this is a good sign that this is developmentally appropriate.

However it is all rather frustrating in the mornings. I get Cameron all ready for his carers so we are ready five to ten minutes before they are due. He then stands at the front door waiting for them and guess what? I am then madly cleaning him up and changing him with seconds to go. We often watch his carer arrive as I am grabbing wet wipes and then I am yelling out to give us a minute.

I've tried waiting to dress him till the last minute but he still manages to catch me out even if he only has to wait for a minute or two. Friday I thought I'd timed it all perfectly but no, the carer arrived early and he wasn't ready. I can't win.

Having a non toilet trained 18 year old is horrible. The messy clean ups are horrendous and the constant accidents and wet clothes and wet linen are tiring. But I can see progress so maybe one day we will get there. I just wish one day would hurry up and get here a little faster.

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