About 3 years ago MJ finally began to show some independence.  He showered unassisted, dressed unassisted, and got ready for school in the morning unassisted (except for tying his shoe-laces).  He remembered everything we had taught him to do and would use the checklist I created to be sure he didn’t miss anything.  We thought we had won the lottery! It was awesome to see him being more independent and it freed us up to get dressed ourselves and be on time for work. From time to time he still needs a brushing teeth and showering “refresher” but for the most part he has been doing well in this area.

Mj is an on-again, off-again bed-wetter.  There have been many weeks where he didn’t wet the bed at all and then all of a sudden he’d have 4 days in a row of bed wetting.  There is no rhyme or reason as far as his bed wetting goes.  MJ knows exactly what he is supposed to do on the mornings he wakes up and realizes that he has wet the bed.  Lately, he has not been keeping up with his routine.  This morning he was late to school, and I to work, because I had to basically make him clean himself and change his clothes!  He was very sad the entire time we did this. He HATES being late in the morning and missing out on some of the morning activities at his before-care.  He knew that I was not happy and he remained quiet on our ride to school.  I spoke to him (again) about the importance of being clean, brushing his teeth, washing his face etc.  His response was “I know, I know mommy.” I almost chuckled at his response but I explained to him that it is something he must do even when he is tired.  He seemed to understand everything that I was saying.  I guess time will surely tell.