A Very Proud Non-Mommy Moment

I feel like I've said this a million times, but for clarity sake I will mention it again. My job involves working with young children (birth-5). 

Even though I'm a speech pathologist, I work on overall development and overlap with other disciplines (occupational therapy, special education, etc.). I try to help support each child in every way that I can. It's not just about speech and language. 

Today was my session with little C. He turned 4 in May and I've been seeing him for therapy since just before he turned 2. I've known him for half of his life and see him 3 times a week. I'm very connected to him and enjoy my time with him. A little over a year ago I went to his developmental evaluation and sat in the room as the evaluators told his parents that he had PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified). Feel free to read more about it here. I've also watched him go from being non-verbal and unable to imitate simple mouth and facial movements to talking in age-appropriate length phrases all within a year. He's my little super star client and has made me proud so many times before. 

Well, C's mom has been trying to potty train him for months. It really just seemed like he didn't get it. He would go into the bathroom and play with the toilet paper dispenser, rock back and forth, ask about any little noise he heard, and just be overly distracted. He didn't seem to get the concept and it became somewhat frustrating to everyone. His mom wanted to give up so many times. 

Well, his mom had something on Facebook yesterday about how he peed on the potty for the first time. Today when I got him from his preschool classroom for therapy he looked like he had to pee. I told him to go to the bathroom as I had so many times before. Like usual, he asked about noises, tried to pull up his pants after about 1 minute, and played with the toilet paper dispenser. Then, he got super quiet and looked down all focused. And he peed! For a long time. 

I can't even begin to describe how proud I was of him at that moment. Even though I'm not his mommy, I felt overwhelming pride for him and his accomplishment. When his mom came to pick him up I got to share my excitement with her and she was so happy. All of his classroom teachers were super surprised as well. 

It was such a great and proud work moment. Most days I really love my job, and especially on days like today.