Peeing freely unclothed

I was in for quite a lot of urine today, so much so that I decided to not go back into the Play Room (PR) in the afternoon.

Let me explain.  About a couple of weeks ago, Remy started taking off his clothes in the PR.  At first he was just testing the waters to see how he liked it.  I'm not quite sure what triggered him to strip off all his clothes.  He started first with the socks.  It's not unusual that he would take his socks off several times a day especially if they got wet, but this time he continued with the shirt and then his bottoms.  He ran around and laughed in glee for about the rest of the afternoon.

Now, I've read about other children who have this issue of just stripping and streaking in public, but this is something new.  It doesn't bother me except that his nakedness comes with intentional peeing OUTSIDE of the toilet or potty!  I really don't mind if he pees - I just clean up right away with as little reaction as I can give.  I'm calm inside, but act quickly as I don't want the urine to seep through the seams of the floor.  However, as I was cleaning up one mess, another would greet me minutes later.  It was almost like a sort of dance that Remy wanted me to do with the wiping of the floor, back and forth to the bathroom, wiping and repositioning the trampoline... then I thought that I would just bring a potty into the room with us.  Well, he just pushed it away when he was trying to pee freely on the floor.  I took it was he didn't need to go since he had just gone to the toilet, but as soon as I put the potty down with my back turned to him, he whizzed right in the area where there were the most seams as well as over the swing cushion.

As you can imagine by now, I was getting a little frustrated and even dumbfounded.  Where in the world was he getting all this pee from???  It was an endless supply!  By this time, it was already 11:27 AM, so I decided to regroup with myself and go prepare him some lunch.

As I prepared lunch, I let him play in the PR naked.  I had tried several times with excitement to have him wear his clothes again, but again it was like a game for him.  I'd come over on my knees one way with the underwear, he'd run off in another direction.  Then he'd also take the underwear and throw it.  Well, he wasn't hurting anyone, so I let him be... at least until I had his lunch ready.

I managed to get him to get dressed before he started eating.  I explained, "Eat.  You want to eat?  Okay, we have to get dressed before we eat."  He ate well at lunch.  The guy has such an incredibly large appetite, he eats so fast I can hardly keep up sometimes (but that's another topic).  But as soon as he was done, he was off... and I think I was still finishing my meal.  Of course I had to wash everything up so that I could get the next meal in order.

After cleaning the kitchen, there was of course - you guessed it - more urine to clean up!  I need to do something that will make playing in the PR more easy.

Okay, so I'm going to do a self talk directly on this blog post.  I typically ask myself questions to lead me to solutions.  Here goes:

What seems to be the problem?
I'm a little baffled as what I should do about Remy peeing freely everywhere.  I think he's peeing freely because he's naked.  I think he wants to be naked for sensory issues.

What bothers you about his nakedness?
It seems to be a trigger for him to pee somewhere other than the toilet.

What bothers you about him peeing outside of the toilet?
It cuts into my quality time of playing with him since I have to clean up and interrupt our interaction.  Sometimes I also raise my voice, and I don't want to light up like a Christmas tree.

How could you reduce the amount of time cleaning up?
Well, I could make sure that all doors are closed in the mornings and afternoons when we're doing our Son-Rise Program.  So, I must have the linen closet locked, his sister's room locked (since he loves peeing in her bed), the kitchen and the gate must be shut.  I may also have to install a lock for his bedroom door.  This just leaves him open access to the bathroom (another topic for another time) and his PR.  And in the PR, I have to make sure that the floor is as empty as it can be.  I'll have to also make sure that there is a rag or two ready for clean up.  I'll keep the potty in the room to encourage him to use it.

How could you make it fun for him to WANT to wear his clothes?
Well, right now it seems to be quite difficult to motivate him to clothe himself again.  The two things that work are:  "okay, we're going to eat" and "we're going outside".  I'll have to come up with something else... he really likes teapots, but I don't want to "bribe" him.  I want him to be motivated not reinforced.

Why do you think he likes to be bare skinned?


Do you feel ready to go back into the PR tomorrow?
I'm tired, but I think that I will be.

How will you make it work better for both of your?
I'll lock doors, keep floor empty in PR, keep rags and potty in the PR.  I'll get some clothes for dress up.  I'll have to get up early tomorrow to do this.

What about meal preparation and eating?
It may be a good idea to install a lock on the inside of the kitchen so that I can keep him in there with me while I prepare meals.  Perhaps I could encourage him to wear clothes and help me cook.  I could also bring in a doodle pad for him to use on the kitchen table as I prep.  Also, I need to prepare as much as possible in the morning or evening.  As for clean up, I'll have to clean up as quickly as possible.  So, I should also have my salad prepared in the morning so that he doesn't finish eating before I do.

Go get some rest now.  Tomorrow is another day!