Kissa Potty Training Ka

In Chinese Checkers, she pointed out the shape was of two inverted triangles,like Chandni used to draw a star. Chandni explained that inverted triangles fit the game, of taking counters from one triangle to another. Temple mentioned autistics have an eye for detail, and Chandni could see that, when Ria pointed out there were 10 counters to take from one side to another in the game.

When Ria was first going to go to preschool daycare, she was three, and they wanted Chandni to send her in diapers if she wasn’t potty trained. So Chandni sent her in diapers, and in the summer holidays at her mother’s place, tried to train the twins with a book called Oh Crap! It recommended that for 3 days the child be kept naked from the waist down, and the potty seat should be handy.

The minute the child showed from a facial expression or another ‘tell’ that they wanted to pee or poop, the mother should plonk them on the potty seat, applaud them and give a reinforcer. Ria’s twin got potty trained this way, but Ria took time to pick things up.

Back home, Chandni found another book which claimed to teach potty training in half a day, to differently abled children. Toilet Training in Less Than a Day by Nathan H.Azrin and Richard Foxx, suggested getting a doll who could pee when the child gave it some water. Chandni thought this might work with Ria, who was fond of dolls.

She ordered one online, and ensured she was free from household work for a weekend, for a few hours. She timed Ria’s peeing, and gave her plenty of fluids. She had her favourite snack, talmakhana, handy, and would give it to the doll, making it sit on the potty seat, every time she thought it was time for Ria to pee. Since naturally the doll couldn’t eat it, she gave it to Ria, who happily devoured it.

Ria got a bigger snack when she sat on the potty seat and an even bigger one when she peed on the potty seat. Ria picked up quickly, and eventually Chandni was able to send her to preschool without diapers, when she was five.

Ria was a feminist. If Chandni would narrate a story about a boy, Ria would ask about his sister. So Chandni would add a sister to the story she would tell, or change the protagonist to a female one. Once, Ria got some flowers from the garden, and Chandni asked her to put it in front of Bhagwan ji in their mandir.

When Chandni didn’t see the hibiscus, she looked closely and saw that Ria had put the flowers in front of Goddess Durga, who was on the second shelf of their temple. Ria had read about Boadecia, the woman queen of England who had fought the Romans, and asked Chandni for more details.

Ria at age seven, began to be self-aware about her learning style. She had learned about different learning styles at school, and pestered Chandni for details.

To be continued...

This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z.