Life With Sweet Pea and Angel

Tools for the Journey Conference

2012-02-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

I attended an AMAZING conference today...Tools for the Journey...that was put on by Club 21, who is a wonderful non-profit organization that's focus is on inclusion...both education based and societal. I attended this conference in 2010 and while I learned a lot, it was WAY too overwhelming hearing so much about inclusion in education and the trials and tribulations associated with it. Sweet Pea was less than 1 years old and I was not ready to handle the education phase of this journey.

Today was NOTHING like that day in 2010. I learned, I laughed, I teared up a couple of times but never real tears, I loved and ultimately, I embraced this next phase. I have attended a lot of IEP trainings and have prepared for that part of the process, but the inclusion part has still eluded me to a large extent. I learned so much today that I feel much more equipped to help setup a productive inclusive environment for Sweet Pea when she transitions to the school district in 2 months and this little girl definitely deserves that!

For those that don't know, we have been receiving early intervention services through the state run agencies called Regional Centers and on the 3rd birthday most of Sweet Pea's services transfer from the Regional Centers to our local school district. The Regional Center will still be involved with Sweet Pea, but not to the extent that they have been since she was born. It means that there is a new system to learn. It also means that she will lose all of her existing therapists and center based therapy program. However, if our IEP meeting goes as we hope it does, she will gain a spot in a preschool that is highly regarded by parents of typical children and that fills up very quickly. She will be in a class that has a good number of typical peers in addition to a few classmates that also have IEPs. I don't know the ratio, but there are definitely more typical peers than special needs peers in each class. She will receive services such as speech and occupational therapy through this school as well. All of the details of what kind and how much therapy and what days/times she attends the class will be decided at the IEP meeting that we are having on March 19th.

Anyway...back to the point of this blog post...

The conference hosted Patti McVay who is the Director of Education at the Linda Crnic Institute. For those of you in Colorado...I am SO jealous that you have such an amazing resource in your toolkit! I feel very fortunate and thankful that Club 21 was able to bring her out for this conference so that we could get a tiny fraction of the information and knowledge that she has to share. Her presentation was titled "Best Practices for Student Success" and here are a few of the top things that I learned:

Teacher ownership is important: If your child has a para educator, DON'T ask the para educator about your child's day. Ask the teacher! This forces the teacher to take ownership of your child. Say hi to the para educator, but focus on the teacher.
Make friends with the teacher: For too many reasons to name. Offer to volunteer during class, after class, work on stuff at home...anything to help her and to let her know that you care.
Related to this is that she prefers para educators to be called classroom assistants...and to act as such! She doesn't want them to be a single or two children's shadow.
Ask General Education teacher to share what is working during the IEP: This gets the general education teacher involved in the IEP and shifts the focus to what your child can do.
Brainstorm with classmates to have them come up with your child's strengths so that they can be read at the IEP. This also helps change the dynamic of the IEP.
Always bring a friend to the IEP: Spouse is good, but also bring a friend. It's another set of ears and eyes that can help with note taking and can be less emotionally attached. An idea suggested by the audience was to have that person sit across from you instead of next to you so that between the two/three of you, you can see everyone's faces and body language.
Create a communication starter: Could be a couple of pictures of what your child did over the weekend. Example: Photo of child at zoo with "We went to the zoo" written under it. This allows peers and others to start conversations with your child when they can't do it themselves...as is often a concern for our kids.
Use visual supports: I don't know why I fight this one so hard. Patti had a great point...we as adults use visuals too. My calendar! It may not be pictures, but visuals don't have to be either. Yes, they start as pictures, but as your child learns you can transition to writing and other types, but keep visuals as a part of their life. It helps them focus on what is important.
Two goals that she recommends are on most IEPs:

Ask a peer for help before an adult
Complete a project with a typical peer once a week

We have to setup situations where our children can be the helpers and not always the helpees. Example: Our children can help with a class that is a couple of years younger at times.
She recommended this article: "Be Careful What You Wish For..." Five Reasons to be Concerned About the Assignment of Indivdual Paraprofessionals by Michael F. Giangreco, et el. I was already nervous about paraprofessionals being assigned to Sweet Pea and I'm happy that our preschool doesn't do that...supposedly. We will see what reality is as we move through the process. Para educators should be used as FACILITATORS for students. A para educators should ask:

What would I do with any other student?
Can a peer do what I am doing?

People first language: I'm horrible at asking people to use people first language (child with Down syndrome instead of Down syndrome child), but she said it in a way that I think I will even be able to use in the future. She asked us all to think of one trait that we dislike about ourselves. Then she asked us how we would like us if we were introduced by that. She is a little overweight (by her own admission) and she asked how we thinks she would feel if she was introduced as "fat Patti". That was a great way of explaining it. We don't want our kids to be introduced and spoken about with Down syndrome being who they are. Sweet Pea is MANY things...having Down syndrome is just one of them.

As you can see...I learned a lot! What I wrote above is just a piece of it. I hope that this information is useful to someone else out there. I am so happy that I was able to attend today and I can't wait for next years conference!

Happy 1 Year Birthday Angel

2012-01-26T02:00:00.000-08:00

Angel is 1 year old today! Really?!? How can that possibly be? My sweet little baby girl is growing up so fast and I feel like I’ve forgotten so much already. I’ve been so busy with the two girls that my blogging has taken a back seat for many months and unfortunately that is how I capture most of my memories and so I’ve missed them. I’ll try to capture some of what Angel is doing currently, but it changes so fast that I can’t keep up.

Language:

After spending a few weeks or more likely it was a couple of months FREAKING out about her lack of speech…and I mean absolute, complete lack…we now have a motor mouth on our hands. This little girl talks and talks and talks and I have hardly any idea what she is saying, but she is saying a lot! She has quite a few words that I can understand and she mimics a lot of words too. Here is a partial list of the words she says currently: hi, shoes, bye, ball, dog, outside, down, Elmo, milk, more, o (Cheerios), push, all done (which she says in the sweetest little voice that melts Mommy’s heart) and probably more that I can't think of since we haven't been writing them down. And she signs more, milk, all done, ball and potty which clearly means we have spent WAY too much time taking Sweet Pea to the potty. And yes, Mammy and Daddy are missing from this list…eventually I’ll hear those sweet words I’m sure.

Here is a little video of her saying "all done":

And here is one of her saying "outside":

Eating:

Angel is still a champion eater although she is getting pickier with time. She definitely prefers table foods over baby food. Banana might be her all time favorite food right now, but that is only because she hasn’t had her cake yet. I’m sure she will go crazy for that tonight! Her other favorite foods are Cheerios, Goldfish, and avocado…but not guacamole.

Walking:

She has ZERO interest in walking. She crawls super fast and she often pants like a dog as she is crawling which makes us crack up. She can walk with a fair amount of wobble holding onto one hand. She will sometimes take two steps by herself to get to something. That something is most certainly not Mom, Dad, Sweet Pea or Grandma! Oh no…we are not nearly enough motivation. A puppet however is! She has a nickname that starts with Silly ____ for a reason. She also doesn’t have any interest in walking with walkers. We stand her up at the handle and she holds onto them and walks around to the side or front of them to play with whatever is there. Oh well…she will certainly walk when she is ready and I’m sure I’ll regret ever teaching her at all!

Here is a video of her trying to leave our house and then showing off her walker skills:

Climbing:

She is definitely a climber. She used Sweet Pea’s lap desk the other day to climb onto the couch. On Tuesday I left her alone at NAPA Center while I washed out a dish and I came back to find her on top of the therapy staircase (it’s only a couple steps up so it wasn’t as bad as it sounds). She wasn’t even in the vicinity of that staircase when I left! At Sweet Pea’s other therapy locations Angel is always climbing into the chairs. I think she wants to participate in the therapy since she always sees her sister doing it. She did join in at Sweet Pea’s center based therapy program last week for a short bit and it was cute to watch her sitting at the table with the other kids.

Games/Songs:

Angel enjoys the itsy bitsy spider and twinkle twinkle, but doesn’t do the hand motions yet. She plays peekaboo all the time. She pretends to be bashful around people and gives them her cutest smile and then turns her head away. Angel doesn’t really have any favorite toys…except for whatever her sister is playing with and also whatever she can carry in her mouth as she crawls around…which contributes to her looking like a dog in addition to sounding like one (maybe she is spending too much time with Kodi).

And one last video of her enjoying her penguin punching bag:

Teeth:
She still has the same 6 teeth that she had by the time she was 8 months old. Don’t think anything is coming in soon either, but who knows.

Sleep:

She takes two naps a day on most days. The naps can go anywhere from 20 minutes (oh how I hate those) to 2 hours (heaven!), but typically are in the area of 45 minutes. Her ability to sleep through the night fluctuates greatly…some weeks are good…others not so much. She seems to require crying to fall asleep and that is not a characteristic that I hope stays, especially since she shares a room with her sister.

Angelisms:

She has the most precious laugh.
She sounds like Donald Duck when she talks sometimes and other times she has the sweetest, softest voice ever and still other times she is the loudest girl in the entire world. So many voices from one little girl.
She loves to recline. She tries to lay back on people all the time. I don’t know if she learned it from Kodi or if it was all her doing, but it’s cute.
Angel LOVES bath time! She comes into the bathroom as soon as she hears the water running.
Her favorite person in the world is still Sweet Pea. She squeals with delight when she sees her sister coming toward her to play.
I didn’t mean for this to be a pattern, but she is like Kodi in yet another way. She runs her head into EVERYTHING. She has no concept of where her noggin is in relation to the rest of the world. She has had numerous bruises on her forehead and even a 3/4 inch scratch all from running into things or falling over. She is extremely tough which shouldn’t surprise me since she had to put up with abuse from her older sister from a very, very early age.

Bottom line is that we love Angel with all our hearts and we can't imagine life without her. This first year has been wonderful and I just know that this next year is going to be even better.

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Zainy Hair

2012-01-11T06:55:00.000-08:00

These are Happy Days

2012-01-08T22:55:00.000-08:00

Life is good here. The girls are both healthy and happy which is a nice change.

Angel is climbing onto everything so I'm sure the bumps and bruises are going to multiply for a while. She doesn't just climb, she conquers! Angel has zero interest in walking, but she sure does enjoy this new found freedom of climbing.

Sweet Pea is starting to be so much more independent! She will often completely feed herself with her spoon or fork and not require us to even load the utensil with the food. We used to have to load it and feed her so this is a huge step for us.

She also self entertains for a much longer period of time now. The only issue is that she HATES when her sister tries to join her in some of her playing. Sometimes they play great together (parallel more than together), but other times...not so much. Little sisters sure can be pesky. :-) (I'm a little sister so I can say that.)

And she is walking without fighting so much more! We walked to the park on Saturday with Aunt R & Uncle R and she walked the entire way there without one complaint. It is only 3 blocks, but for her that is HUGE! On the way home it was a little more challenging, but I only had to use one goldfish cracker as motivation to keep walking which is unheard of. She was asking for Signing Time about a block from the park but clearly we didn't bring a tv with us to the park so she had to walk home to watch an episode while I cooked dinner. Silly little Signing Time addict...

On the walking and behavior front...I was able to take both kids to Trader Joe's this morning without wanting to pull my hair out after just a few minutes. The trip took about 40 minutes in total and Sweet Pea was great during it! Angel sat in the cart and Sweet Pea walked through the aisles with me. She would help me pick out food to put in the cart and she only touched three items that she shouldn't have. We used to have issues often even in the parking lot before getting into the store! Getting through the entire shopping trip without one fit is a dream come true. We got a little help from an employee when she gave her stickers for being so cute, but still...Sweet Pea did it! I am so proud of her!!!!

Back to the park...both girls enjoyed the trip. Sweet Pea showed off her climbing skills and her lack of fear of the big winding covered slide immediately.

Angel decided that going down slides on her bottom was for novices. She much prefers this new method:

Angel was having a blast on the rocking animals with a little assistance from Auntie R.

This doesn't fit with this post, but seeing as I don't do many posts I better include it while I'm here...Completely random, but it's so strange that I have to write it...Angel has a few different toys in her crib that she has two different versions of the same basic thing (often because one was Sweet Pea's but she never played with them)...two pink my first dolls, two Tiggers, two chewy blanket things, etc. The other day I walk into her room after a nap and find that all 6 of these items on the floor. Not a big deal. She tosses her toys out all the time. Daddy says she is interrogating them and if they don't talk, they are goners. Anyway, the toys on the floor wasn't the interesting part. The fact that these toys were paired up...even on the floor was! She had dropped them in such a manner that you had the 2 dolls right on top of each other, then the two Tiggers next to that and about a foot away the 2 chewy blanket things. It was very odd. I should have taken a picture, but didn't think of it at the time. On Friday when I saw her manhandling her two Tiggers again I had to get a picture of that. She has both of her poor Tiggers by the tail and is loving every minute of it. And yes, I love it even more because of the twist on "Tiger by the Tail".

Professional Photos!!!!

2012-01-03T22:30:00.000-08:00

Yep, you read it right...we finally had family photos taken again! The last time this happened Sweet Pea was only about 6 months old. So much has changed since then and I really wanted to capture our new family in a professional manner...my daily photography skills are definitely lacking! We were very lucky to be able to work with an amazing photographer, Andrea Moore (www.mamamoorephotography.com), who wanted to build out her portfolio a bit more. It takes a daring individual to take on the monumental task of photographing this family! Take a look at some of the moments she was able to capture. I tried to narrow it down to a smaller set of photos, but it was too hard so I'm sharing many of them with you here:

I hope you enjoyed them as much as I do!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T22:31:00.000-08:00

We wish you all a merry Christmas!

Happy Friday!

2011-12-16T20:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a very long week with Angel being sick and dealing with the ups and downs that come with potty training so when I was handed a copy of Sweet Pea's latest testing results, I was more than a little nervous. Did I want to read them or should I put them in a drawer until the new year. If you know me, you know that I can't put them in a drawer so as soon as I got home and got the kids settled I pulled them out and pulled out the last test to do a comparison. This test puts age equivalents to Sweet Pea's skills in a variety of areas. It's sometimes extremely heartbreaking to read because while I know that Sweet Pea is delayed, seeing how delayed right there in black and white is rough. There are often times when I am surprised by how far behind she is in a certain area, but I'm often pleasantly surprised by how well she is doing in another. This time I was thrilled by most of what I saw! This was called the discharge report, but since she has three more months until she turns 3 I'm a little confused by that. They tried to explain it was due to the holiday, but even still it seems a little early, but oh well.

The specific report they did was the Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP). "This is a non-standardized assessment that examines seven domains of development: regulatory/sensory organization (self-regulation capacities and a child's capacity to perceive and organize various sensory experiences), cognition (mental processess related to thinking, remembering and reasoning), language (expressive and receptive), gross motor (whole body movements such as crawling, walking, jumping, and climbing), fine/perceptual motor and finally self help (oral motor, dressing, feeding, grooming)". Here are the results from the previous test and the current test:

Chronological Age	28 mths	33 mths
Regulatory/Sensory	Atypical - Concerns are with hypersensitivity to vestibular and proprioceptive processing	Atypical - Concerns are with hypersensitivity to vestibular and proprioceptive processing
Cognition	20-24 mths with scattered skills up to 29 mths	28-30 mths
Receptive Language	22-24 with scattered skills up to 30 mths	26-29 mths
Expressive Language	15-18 mths	21-24 mths
Gross Motor	18-20 mths	25-29mths with delays in jumping and stairs (22 mths)
Fine Motor Foundations	intact with exception of bilateral and midline skills (8.5-12 mths)	intact with exception of grasp and prehension (23-25 mths)
Perceptual-Motor Integration	18-23 mths with greater concerns in paper/scissor tasks	26-28 mths
Self Help	20-24 mths	30-34 mths

Just writing that out made me question a few things in it, but overall I am extremely proud of how hard Sweet Pea has worked these past few months.

One of the things that gets me frustrated is that she has finally started to sleep better and I wonder if that has anything to do with how strong she is developing in so many areas. I know I do a lot better with sleep! The only two things we changed were 1) putting Angel in the same room as her and so Sweet Pea had to learn to sleep through crying 2) giving her Nexium at night instead of in the morning. I wish I knew if either of those were the magic bullet for her sleeping better, but as long as it continues I really don't care.

I need to try to get the data behind these numbers on Monday as it seems that some might not be completely accurate. For example, in the 28 mth results she was intact on fine motor foundations except for the bilateral and midline skills which would typically be in the 8.5-12 mth range. From what they explained to me last time that meant that she had met all the skills (except for the bilateral and midline) up to the 28 mth level. This time it says she is intact with the exception of grasp and prehension (which I just looked up in the dictionary as "The act of grasping or seizing") which is listed as 23-25 mths. Did she regress? If she was intact up to 28 mth before (except midline/bilateral), how is she now missing this other area?

This is good practice at trying to understand the tests and trying to figure out what they really mean since I'm told I need to learn to do that when it comes time for IEPs. I have a lot of learning ahead of me, but I do enjoy most of it. It's fascinating learning about development! I just wish that my child's education didn't depend upon it!

Now for some random pictures...

The girls are having fun playing together these days and I can't adequately express how much joy it brings me to watch them.

Christmas Parade with Grandma and Grandpa. We are surprised Angel survived as she had 102 fever and was doped up on Tylenol, but she rallied and made it through.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday: Santa's 1st Visit

2011-12-07T14:38:00.000-08:00

We are still alive here! In my dreams I would catch you all up on what has been happening with us the last couple of months, but I know that will never actually happen...so here we are with today at least.

Santa and his elves came to visit Sweet Pea at her center based therapy.

She's checking him out...

Angel's first encounter with the big man is red...

Love her face here!

Sweet Pea had a fine time with the big man, but Angel wasn't so sure. She survived, but not by much!

I hope everyone is doing well and I hope to be back soon to catch you up on our potty training saga that is still going...and going...and going!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday: Halloween

2011-11-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

2nd Place Winner in Costume Contest!!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Watching Signing Time

2011-10-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

Photo Friday: Potty Training Skills

2011-10-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

We've been working on potty training and the accompanying skills for a few months now. Well, yesterday it finally caught up with me...Sweet Pea figured out how to pull her panties down and since she can't get them back up, she just takes them off! She repeated this new skill numerous times during the afternoon, much to Angel's horror...

I can't figure out how to teach her how to pull them back up over her butt. Her short arms aren't helping us!

It's going to be a cold winter for Sweet Pea if she keeps this up!

We Got Shoes On Sale!

2011-10-21T09:08:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I asked for help in the shoe department and you guys responded with great ideas! Unfortunately, 6pm.com wasn't having anything on a great sale and so I just kept looking. Luckily, HauteLook happened to have a great Stride Rite sale today!!!!

Check out these cuties:
This is Karlee ($26) and she is a my favorite! I fell in love with her when I took Sweet Pea to the shoe store last week. Sweet Pea really loved them too so I'm excited for them to arrive!

And we had to pick a sneaker also so here is Carlota Sparkle ($21.50):

And Angel couldn't be left out...especially since Sweet Pea's shoes in her size are wides and Angel isn't so she got these cute Maddy Mary Janes ($25):

If anyone likes Stride Rite shoes, you should check out HauteLook today! The sale goes through Monday but they often sell out of the cutest shoes first. To see their deals you have to sign up as a member, but membership is free and very easy to do. Have fun shopping!

New Shoes Needed

2011-10-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

These cute little feet need some shoes that fit! Fellow DS Mommy's, I need your advice. What brands of shoes have been recommended for your kids? Our podiatrist said Stride Rite and New Balance, but I've also heard good things about Pediped. She has little orthotics that sit in the shoes and go from the heel to just around the arch. They haven't seemed to impact shoes fitting in the past.

Sweet Pea desperately needs new shoes and I'd like to try to find some good deals online, but need to know what might work well. Any advice would be great!!!! Thanks!

And just some random photos of Sweet Pea to entice you to post a comment:

And her nose has healed pretty nicely, but it sure looked bad for a while there!

This is her "say cheese" face...actually this one is by far the best version of it!

We're Still Alive

2011-10-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to find the time to get anything done...especially blogging! I really should prioritize the blogging above everything else like cleaning, cooking, therapy, etc, but I just haven't been able to do it yet. Just kidding! I know you all understand just how busy our lives are and I'm impressed and amazed at how some of you fellow mommy's get so much done! I'm working on getting more productive and efficient...and working...and working...

Our lives have been filled with the regular schedule of events of therapy, doctor appointments, play dates and just plain old life. I got sick this week and that didn't help, but I'm on the mend and hope to be 100% better soon. Angel is crawling everywhere and is in to absolutely EVERYTHING. I'm not used to this and certainly wasn't prepared for it to happen so fast. Sweet Pea is continuing to be a two year old and loves to cause chaos and watch my reaction. That sweet girl sure has an evil streak in her! She must get that from her Daddy!

The girls are playing together a ton and it is wonderful to watch their relationship blossom. Too bad it's not always in appropriate ways...

Angel is learning to stand up for herself (Sweet Pea barged her way in front of Angel)

Angel continues to pull Sweet Pea's hair as her primary means of defense

Luckily Sweet Pea doesn't seem to mind it too much. I think she knows that she has it coming!

Sweet Pea's First Pony Ride

2011-10-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

Mommy took the girls to a nearby hometown fair. They opened the kids area early for kids with disabilities and it was wonderful! We were able to do one of the bounce houses with Sweet Pea before too many other kids came along and made it unsafe for her.

Sweet Pea stared down Minnie Mouse for quite a while:

After the bounce house we went over to the ponies and Sweet Pea had her first pony ride. They strap the kids in fairly securely and so no one needed to be right next to her. This made me worry that she would freak out, but she did really well. I'm not sure what she was thinking, but I think she had fun. She was glad it ended when it did, but it was a long ride and so I can't blame her for that.

She could sense the excitement:

She looks so small next to the ponies! I can't imagine how tiny she would look next to an actual horse!

Look Mom...one hand!

Signing horse:

She's a natural:

I fear that a not too distant Christmas list will include a pony!

It was a fun morning and we will be making sure it's on our calendar for next year when Sweet Pea and Angel will be able to do even more!

Bakers Rack 1 Sweet Pea 0

2011-09-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

If this is what happens when Mommy watches the girls...Mommy should be fired!

Sweet Pea tried to climb the bakers rack and it's pretty clear that the bakers rack won. I'm hoping she heals quickly!

Wordless Wednesday: Tough Love

2011-09-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

Angel is Crawling!

2011-09-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

I find myself constantly just staring in awe at Angel as she tries to make her body do something. You can see the determination in her face and the purposeful movements that follow. Her body doesn't always cooperate, but she is trying! I love spying on her when she doesn't know I'm there and just watching her every move. It's bitter sweet to watch things come so easily for her since we had to work so hard to get to each of these steps with Sweet Pea, but it also is amazing and wonderful. I know that I wouldn't have appreciated how easily Angel does things if I didn't have Sweet Pea. However, I also know that I cherish every single one of Sweet Pea's accomplishments just as much, if not more, because of how hard she works for them.

The latest achievement for our little wonder child is that she is officially a crawler! It was 17 days ago that Angel got up on all fours for the very first time. 15 days ago that she did a little rocking on all fours. 7 days ago that she was purposefully moving her arms in an adorable wax on wax off kind of motion while on all fours. (Seriously, this was the cutest thing to watch...the intensity in her eyes, the way she watched her arms and tried to get them to move forward and the way that she would alternate arms...just precious!) 4 days ago she was trying one full crawl motion. Today she is actually crawling! She still has a bit of work to do before she masters the art of crawling, but I'm sure that won't take her long at all. She is going to love being able to get where she wants to go. Seeing as she wants to be everywhere that I am, I think that means I will have her at my heels a lot so I better be careful when I walk!

Here are some videos of her in action...I love how her feet are crossed as she crawls in this one:

In this one I love how you can hear the force of her arms hitting the ground:

Potty Training

2011-09-15T22:59:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the serious stuff...here is a fun video of the girls actually having fun together today instead of one beating up the other (I'll let you guess who is doing the beating these days). They were doing this for a few minutes and I only caught the tail end because I couldn't find my camera.

I've been delaying this post for months because...well...I'm just not sure what I should say. (Turns out that I wrote WAY too much so feel free to jump to the bottom...no pun intended.) I took a toilet training class that was offered by our local regional center back in April. By this time we had acquired a little potty and when we would catch Sweet Pea starting to poop we would occasionally run her over to the potty and have her do it on there instead of in her diaper. We were just taking it slow and easy figuring that it was going to take a long time, but wanting to get her comfortable with the idea of going on the potty.

At some point after that training I noticed that she would wake up dry from her naps and so I would sometimes take her when she first woke up. Sometimes because I had another little one in the house and I wasn't ready to drop everything for potty training. She would go pee almost immediately when we put her on her potty almost every time when we got her there fast enough after her nap. From there we just continued to haphazardly take her to the potty...sometimes first thing in the morning, sometimes after naps, sometimes when we see her starting to poop...basically, very randomly. Again, we were just going with the flow and not pushing her and had very low expectations.

She started to go more and more often when we would put her on it and I started to believe that she might actually be ready for serious potty training. We had a behaviorist evaluation in July and she had us take some data to see when her diapers were wet and dry, but we were still doing everything just sporadically. It was around this time that Sweet Pea stopped wanting to go to the potty at all and so we stopped taking her because we didn't want it to be a fight. We would ask her if she had to go and if she said yes then we would take her and if she said no then we didn't. Simple as that. Except getting a reliable response from a 2 year old is anything but simple and we clearly weren't making any progress, but at least we weren't forcing her to go and turning it into a fight.

Our behaviorist started in the middle of August and she primarily changed two things that we were doing...1) Don't ask her if she has to go...say "it's time to go potty" 2) Reward her for even sitting on the potty regardless of if she was successful. Our behaviorist wanted a reward that was extra motivating and the only thing that seemed to fit the bill was Signing Time. However, I was absolutely not going to let Sweet Pea watch a 25 minute episode every time she sat on the gosh darn potty. However, I came up with an alternative...what we now call "music videos". Signing Time has a lot of songs throughout each episode and so I created mini files of just the music portions of a couple of episodes and we show one of those to her as her reward. She absolutely LOVES them! We make a big deal about it and it is doing the trick.

After about a week of giving her a music video every time she sat on the potty I really wanted to stop and only give her one if she actually did something productive on the potty. At this point she was going a decent amount of the time when we would take her and so I didn't think it was that big of a leap to change the reward. I waited until our next behaviorist meeting and she was in favor of the switch so we started only rewarding her with a music video if Sweet Pea actually went pee or poop. The successes were still happening a lot and I was starting to get cocky...I bet you can guess where this is going...

The next week we took the behaviorist with us to Target to get some padded panties and covers so that we weren't having to use diapers. It took us a few days to really start to use them, but when we did things went fairly well. Sweet Pea definitely had some accidents, but it wasn't anything too frustrating. Mind you we were only using them when we were at home which really isn't very much of the day. We were taking her every hour at this point. I continued to get more excited and cockier...

The next week I tell the behaviorist how great it's going and that I'd like to expand it outside of our house because we just aren't covering enough of the day this way. She says to go for it and we do, but in our typical haphazard fashion. We start by getting her center based therapy on board and they agree to try to take her every hour, but they really want her in pull ups which we can understand. We wait until we get pull ups to start at center based therapy, but I try a couple of times when we are out at other therapy or a friend's house. Some successes and some utter failures. More failures are starting to happen at home too. We can take her to the potty and then 5-25 minutes later she will have an accident. Daddy and I are both getting frustrated, but trying to stay positive. When the accidents happen we explain that pee goes in the potty, not in her panties. We have her help clean it up and explain that she only gets her music videos when she goes in the potty. I have no idea how much of what we are saying she is getting, but I'm trying.

We start having center based therapy take her every hour on Monday and she goes some, but also goes in her diaper. On Tuesday we explain to our behaviorist what is happening and she wonders if she can't hold it longer than 30 minutes. Her solution is to have us take her every 30 minutes and start taking data on every time we feed her food/liquid and every time we take her to the potty, was her diaper wet/dry and does she pee or poop. We can't ask her center based therapy center to go every 30 minutes so we continue with them every hour. On Wednesday we have pull ups and she does the same thing...some in pull up and some in potty. After her nap I don't get her soon enough and she peed in her diaper, but did go poop on the potty. 15 minutes later she peed in her panties though! The rest of the day she did find and even told me that she had to go once. Right before bedtime she went pee with Daddy and while she was waiting for the music video (computer issues were delaying it) she pooped in her pants. Frustrating, but okay...

Today was a tough day...Daddy took her at 6:20am and she didn't go, 6:40am and she didn't go and then she peed in her panties at 6:45am. She then went in her pull up while we were at PT/OT even though I took her before we left, when we arrived, an hour later in between the two sessions and again an hour later before we left. She did pee in the potty two out of those four times. When she woke up from her nap she went twice in a row and then I didn't take her for 45 minutes and she peed in her panties. I was frustrated at myself, but also frustrated that she can't seem to hold her bladder at times. I don't know what I thought potty training was going to be like, but I really thought that she would be able to hold it longer. She does sometimes and other times she doesn't. I'm hoping this is completely normal, but I have no idea!

I was very down on the entire potty training process, but she went the next two times I put her on the potty. I was trying to get to a football game so I just put her in a diaper so that I didn't have to worry about it while we were out of the house. About 1.5 hours after her last potty trip I hear her say "poo". I look at her with disbelief and ask if she really has to go poo to which she replies "yeah". Oh goodness...we are at a high school football game and I have no idea where the bathrooms are. Luckily my good friend informs me and offers to keep Angel so off Sweet Pea and I go...running most of the way to the potty...and it's a LONG way! I figure there is no way that she actually has to go poo and even if she did...she wasn't going to be able to hold it until we got there. We get into the bathroom and I have to sing to her to get her to sit for long enough to count, but she actually goes poop! And she even said "more" when I thought she might have been done already. She sat for another minute and more came! Way to go Sweet Pea!!!! She didn't pee, but she pooped and her diaper was still dry! That makes me feel a little better about our progress, but still fairly beat down.

We make our way back to the stands and not 10 or 20 minutes later does she say "potty". I am extremely doubtful that 1) she has to actually go pee and 2) that we can get there in time, but I know that I have to try so off we go again. We get to the bathroom and she is again still dry! I can't believe it, but I put her up on the potty and she goes! Wow! Alright...let's keep this going Sweet Pea! We head back to the stands and the game eventually ends and we head home. It's now been over an hour since we last went and I forgot to take her when we got home, but then I hear her say "potty" as I'm trying to get her to go eat her dinner. Alright...it's another stall tactic, but let's go through the charade again...her diaper is a tiny bit wet but she actually goes in the potty.

We eat and then I have to breastfeed Angel. It's just me with both girls tonight so I need Sweet Pea to entertain herself while I feel Angel. Not 3 minutes into the feeding do I hear her yelling from the bathroom. I am kicking myself about now because I realize it has been 30 minutes since we last went. I try to tell her to pull down her panties, but I know that she can't clear her bottom so why am I even trying. The yelling doesn't stop so Angel and I make a side trip to the restroom and she goes again. Another music video and I'm back to feeding Angel.

Absolute hysterical cries start emanating from the kitchen a few minutes later. I hadn't heard her fall or anything get bumped so I am not sure what is going on. I really want to finish feeding Angel and the cry isn't her hurt cry so I'm confused. After a minute of it I head to the kitchen to see what is going on. Sweet Pea is freaking out, but doesn't appear hurt. I'm trying to get her to tell me what's wrong with her signs and when that fails I ask her to show me. She starts walking away and toward the potty. About halfway there she starts freaking out again and farts. I'm thinking, oh no! Did I mention that after the last pee session we didn't get her panties back on because I'm one handing everything because I was still feeding Angel? So now I have a pantie-less girl about to take a dump on our carpet. I get her into the bathroom and on the potty just in time. No wonder she was crying so desperately! She really was trying to hold it, but it wasn't waiting for her dense mother to get a clue!

So after me being ready to throw in the towel she tells me 5 times in a row that she has to go! Seriously?!?! I guess my heart to heart talk that we shared while cleaning up her last accident sunk in? I don't know, but I hope it wasn't just an anomaly. It's evenings like this that make me think she is ready, but then again...the 30 minute thing is NEVER going to work in this house. We just aren't organized enough to keep to that kind of a schedule.

Hopefully we will update everyone in a few weeks that we are still making progress. Does anyone have suggestions on how to get more than 30 minutes out of a kiddo? Anyone like cloth pull ups/training pants? If so, which ones? What tricks do you use to encourage your kids to go while you are away from home?

Wow! That was a LONG post...but I need to write it out so I can track where we are as my memory is horrible. Thanks for bearing with me!

Bubble Blower

2011-09-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

We have been working on getting Sweet Pea to blow for months and months and months. She started to purse her lips and look like she was blowing, then progressed to making a sound as she did the lip pursing and finally there is a little bit of true air flow! She still makes the sound, but enough air comes out to actually feel it! Ignore our voices in this video...her speech therapist and I are obviously super excited about it. This was one of Sweet Pea's last sessions with this speech therapist who we've been seeing for almost a year now. I'm going to miss her, but due to her schedule changing and our schedule being fairly rigid, we are losing her. I'm hoping her replacement is a good one! Enjoy the video:

Wordless Wednesday: Seriously Rocking

2011-09-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

Video of Angel Seriously Rocking:

Sisters

2011-08-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

We had an impromptu photo shoot in our hallway today...they were just being too cute to pass up the chance. And looks like Angel might be an official sitter in the next couple of days!

Pure sweetness

Hug time

Smiles

This one cracks me up...Sweet Pea looks like she is about to attack and Angel looks worried as can be. These expressions are all too common in this house!

Beach Day!

2011-08-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

We live close to the beach and yet we NEVER go! The last time Sweet Pea went to the beach...at least to the waters edge...was last summer and this summer is nearly over. We had to change! I knew that I wasn't able to take the girls to the beach by myself and Grandma offered to help me so off we went...

Angel loved it right from the start, but Sweet Pea wasn't so sure. The waves and water were okay, but when the waves receded...that sensation was too much for her. It's an odd feeling so I can't blame her, but I hope that she overcomes it eventually.

Fun...

Fun...

Not fun...

Sweet Pea ended up preferring playing in the sand...

Angel's first wave...

Love!

This is fun Mom! Why haven't you taken me to the beach before?

Thank you Grandma for helping to make it happen and for making it extra fun!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2011-08-09T22:51:00.000-07:00

We had quite a day today! PT then OT then naps then swimming then park then dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house with my Aunt N from back east! And it was Grandpa's birthday to top it off! (I'm sorry Dad, but I had to throw that in there...I love you!) It's days like this that I know why it is 10:30pm and I've hardly gotten anything accomplished! Oh well...it's all very much worth it.

I was daring today and decided to try to have Sweet Pea walk to the park. I don't know why considering she had PT, OT and swimming already, but I did and you know what? She did pretty darn good! She walked all the way there without sitting down except for when she tripped a couple of time, but each of those times she got right back up with very little fussing. The way home wasn't nearly as smooth (or maybe quiet would be a better word), but she made it and that is what matters.

When we were leaving the house she was pushing her baby stroller so I thought I'd try to have her push that to the park. I thought it might distract her from the actual walk. Wrong! She did really well until she reached our neighbors house. I decided to bail on that idea and ran the stroller back home really quick. It was cute while it lasted though!

Sweet Pea surprised me at the park when she decided completely on her own that she would walk up the stairs that lead to the slide! Every other time we have been to this park she has just crawled up them and we haven't ever even tried to have her walk up them. I couldn't believe it when I saw her do it! And then she did it every single time she went up those stairs. I am so proud of her! Here is a quick video:

While we got dinner ready Cousin O was reading to Sweet Pea. He is going into first grade and has become quite the reader. It's great to listen to him and Sweet Pea loves being read to so it's a great pairing.

Shortly after the reading session Cousin O and Cousin C were entertaining both of our girls. It was too cute to listen to the giggles that were coming from both of my girls. It's clear that they are both smitten with their cousins! Here is a quick video that captures just a tiny piece of the joy that was occurring:

Wordless Wednesday: Regression, Jealousy or Just Yearning for the Simpler Days?

2011-08-03T10:32:00.000-07:00