A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down

If only a spoonful of sugar was all that it took. Giving the little guy antibiotics three times a day is nothing short of hell. It usually takes us a good 30 to 40 minutes for each dose to get the liquid down his throat. Often, all or most of it is spat out or dumped. We have to continue this routine for TEN days (shoot me now!).

We've threatened to take him back to the doctor. We've tried mixing the meds in with food and drink. We've bribed him with treats. We've temporarily taken away his toys and his teetee. We've tried negotiating, reasoning, begging and pleading. His unfaltering pig-headedness makes him immune to all of these ploys. Sometimes he leaves us no choice but to hold him down, plug his nose, and squirt the meds into him mouth.

Today the situation improved slightly. We discovered that he will sort of tolerate the antibiotics if they are mixed in with orange juice. I let him do activities on Starfall while we administer the medication. He can't advance to a new screen or start a new activity until he takes a big swig. This method seems to be working and it is only taking us 10 or 15 minutes per dose.

I'm really hoping that the antibiotics work because I don't think we could survive a second round.

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We've had some amazing toilet training success in the last week. He's barely had any wet diapers. Our strategy is to put him in underwear all of the time. If he wants a diaper when we go out he has to wear a pull-up on top of his underwear (to make him notice any accident).

In the last couple of days he's done three or four poops on the toilet. He's also been initiating going to the potty or toilet without being prompted.

When we are out in public he is still reluctant to use the toilet. Even so, we've been carting around his portable toilet seat so that it's there if he needs it. I'm hoping that he won't fall back to his old ways once he's back at daycare....

Positive reinforcement is really paying off. Heck, he's even starting to use it himself. Yesterday when we went to the farm one of the horses took a giant pee in the stable. The little guy watched in amazement. When the horse was done he said to the horse enthusiastically, "Good job!"