Potty training is for the birds. I really dislike it. I'm positive I'm doing it wrong and afraid I'm going to scar my dear, sweet child for life. We had started this process right after Alexa turned two but had only been going at it for a couple of days before Parker was hospitalized. She was actually doing fairly well and had gone pee pee AND poo poo on the potty. She wasn't thrilled with the whole thing but she did get the concept. I don't think the grandparents tried it while we were away and she didn't seem interested in starting back up when we got home. I figured this was OK because I've been told not to potty train during times of stress or when you can't focus enough time at the task at hand. So...we've held up for a few months. But, I figured it was time to press forward again and I think I should've waited....until she was at least SEVEN!
It took me about three days just to convince my child to sit on the potty. She didn't want anything to do with it. Since she showed no interest in the little potty, I thought maybe a toilet seat for the big potty would be a better option. I took her to Wal-Mart so she could pick out which one she wanted. For the first time ever, she did NOT want to take something off of the shelf and put it in the cart. When I asked her to pick one out, she just said "NO" or "Put back". My child is adamant that she is NOT going to try this thing.
I have purchased just about every little "potty reward" that I can think of to no avail. Even though she will now sit on the potty, as soon as she needs to GO she wants to get up and says, "Put diaper on." HELP! Anyone know how to get such a strong-willed child through this? Or, any tricks to help Mommy not lose her mind through this?
I'm taking a sign language class that is offered at our church on Wednesday nights. I really do enjoy it but I have been bad. I am not studying/practicing enough. I've slid under the radar until now. Last night, a gal who is deaf came to our class and she went around the room asking us questions. No voices were allowed. I was able to communicate what I wanted with her but I was pretty lost trying to understand what she was telling me. How embarrassing! I should be doing better. This is not typical for me. I was always the girl who studied and did well in school. I got A's and I wouldn't accept anything else. Maybe I'll have to ask to be graded and that would encourage me to try harder?
My little man is so happy lately. He's all smiles and loves being held and cuddled. This, of course, makes me happy too. Now that Parker has been diagnosed with hearing and vision deficits, he is able to receive additional services and resources. There is a vision/hearing specialist from the schools coming out to provide us with ideas on how to assess what Parker can see and how to present things to him appropriately. It's a bit tricky because Parker can only see things that are above his head and back a bit. He's not able to see straight out in front of him or below him. He's also only able to see certain things and certain colors and we're working on figuring out what all that includes at this point. We know he can see mylar balloons because they are big, colorful, and shiny so I think we'll be getting a different colored balloon every week to see which colors he responds to best. Hopefully our house won't fly away with all the helium inside.
Parker has been doing better with his therapy. He has more head control now and can roll from side to side at times. He uses his legs a lot for his movement and positioning and we're trying to encourage him to use his arms. In the last few days, when he has a rattle or small toy in his hand, he has figured out that he can work his little arms up to the top of his head so he can look at it. This is the cutest thing and I'm so proud of him for figuring this out! Go Parker!
Other than that, I'm tired. Really tired. I think I could curl up and sleep for three days...easy. I know Paul feels that way too. People think being a stay at home Mom is easy but it isn't. It's hard work, much harder than when I was working full-time. You can't really explain it - you just have to experience it yourself to understand. I get frustrated because I don't seem to get anything accomplished during the day. It's hard when I have to suction Parker 7-10 times per hour. It's been like this for over a month now but none of the Doctor's seem concerned. They just say, "It's no big deal - kids with trach's do this sometimes." I wonder if they've ever suctioned someone that often for a month?
That's enough rambling for now. Until next time....toodles!
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