Warning: If the word “penis” makes you cringe, please don’t read any further :).
On top of having fragile x, Matty was born with some unrelated urinary issues. He had a testicle in his abdomen that had to be put in the right place when he was 18 months old. He also had what was called hypospadias. The opening in his penis was at the base and not at the tip. That was a huge, major surgery when he was 4 years old.
So potty training the kid was never exactly easy. With his fragile X he has been a bit slower on getting trained. Plus he doesn’t feel pain so we aren’t exactly sure if he can feel the urges to go potty. And even though he has had reparative surgery on his penis, he still has to sit down to pee.
Matty was in diapers/pull-ups until he was about 9. One day I finally couldn’t look at another pull up and went 100% skivvies. He stayed dry all night and would occasionally pee in the toilet so I knew that we had hope. The first few months were nasty. He instantly learned that pooping his underwear was all wrong and stopped that. But he still peed him himself…a lot.
However, by the time he was 10 he started going pee in the potty about 95% of the time. Of course, we had to put him on the toilet every 2-3 hours AND tuck his penis in for him.
At about 11 1/2 we could tell him to go potty and he would get up and go get on the toilet. 
But we still had to follow him in to make sure he tucked himself in.
Well….we just hit another major pottying milestone. He not only goes and gets on the potty BUT he is also tucking himself in….without us reminding him. He’s been doing it for about a week now. We are stoked. We all felt like we were violating the child by having to tuck it in for him.
I mentioned to Kevin that maybe next we can get him to wipe himself or even just go in there when he needs to go. Kev gave me THE LOOK and told me not to rush it. Good point. I get so overzealous.
I’m so proud of him though. I just never know what he will achieve next. It’s awesome!
Posted by FXSmom
