Being properly supportive....

So, Robin, my younger son with encopresis, invites me into the bathroom for a look at his latest effort. After I'm done admiring it ("Look at all the bubbles!") he proudly informs me that he has "a waggy little penis."

To which I can only reply, "Yes. Yes, you do."

Treatment Guidelines for Primary Nonretentive Encopresis and Stool Toileting Refusal

Yup, my almost five-year old son is still not toilet trained. The title is the title of the article in an issue of American Family Physician I am using as a rough guide to working with him. We've already started our poop diary and will be scheduling trips to the toilet, with accompanying books, throughout the day. I can't see fitting in more than one or two trips past the normal early morning, before bath, and before-we-leave-the-house trips so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Now that we've had his developmental evaluation, and I know this problem is not due to any developmental delay, I can relax a bit and just work with him. Poor kid does fit the profile for ADHD though, and has a poor working memory. I imagine that is contributing in some small way to his issues with this.