Despite trying to teach Nathan to answer “yes” or “no”, he only answers, “please” when he means yes (that has been good enough for me). He has never answered with a “no” without prompts.

However, today he answered “yes” on two separate occasions. One with me and another with his physical therapist.

With regards to saying “no”, since yesterday, he has been telling us, “no weewee” whenever we brought him to the toilet. Just a week before, we were having troubles with toilet training. He would cry whenever we brought him to the toilet and he didn’t pee. I thought he was having bladder problems because we always did a pretty good job catching his pee time on a toilet schedule we have established.

I don’t think he had/has a bladder problem. The crying preceded his wanting to communicate with us and tell us, “Hey, I don’t need to pee so frequently anymore. I’m a big boy now. I can hold my pee longer than you think.”. Now that he can tell us “no weewee,” we haven’t pushed him further and he hasn’t been crying.

So all in a day, he seems to have instantly mastered the proper use of “yes” and “no” without any coaching.