Potty Time!

Let me just say that I'm feeling a bit out of my league when it comes to potty training Emma.  I mean, how exactly are you supposed to know when you non-mobile, non-verbal child has to go potty?  I'm still not sure but decided to give it a go since Emma seems quite interested.

Emma's interest about as much thought as I've put into the whole potty training.  I haven't figured out exactly WHAT we will do when she gets potty trained when we are away from our potty seat or only around a public restroom but I'll eventually deal with that.  Because, the truth is, if I start to think about that too much right now it would overwhelm me and I might not keep on with the potty adventure.  So, I'll leave that worry for another day.

We have a great potty that we used for Julia and it has a pretty supportive seat.  I've kept it in the powder room and whenever I go in there I used it as a seat for Emma instead of laying her on the ground.  Since she started to sit up in it quite nicely I thought we should see what she does on this if we take off her diaper.  

Sunday was Emma first time sitting on the potty.  She looked pretty happy with all the attention she was getting from Chris, Julia and me while she was just sitting there doing nothing.  And then seemed over the moon when we checked and saw she went and the whole house burst into song.  The Potty song to be exact.  The song that we sang for Julia and now are singing for Emma complete with dancing around the room.  Yep, it's incredible silly.  Yep, Emma loved it!

On Monday I decided we needed some modifications to the potty.  Pretty much everything off the shelf needs modifications for Emma so this was not surprising.  Unless Emma is very awake and interested in what is going on she tends to fall from her sitting position.  Like this -

Since I want her to feel supported enough to use the potty I added a "seatbelt" to our seat.  It keeps her from falling over and she seems much more at ease since she no longer has to work so hard not to fall.  We tested out this modification and she went to the potty again.  She was thrilled with herself.  We did the potty dance again and she kept laughing.  Yes, I think she totally gets what is going on with the potty!

Today I've tried her on the potty twice - once about two hours after her bottle and once before nap time.  She went both times.  We sang the song but didn't do the dance since Emma was ready for a nap.  We did make a big deal over going on the potty and she smiled again when we looked and saw she went.  And, what's interesting about this time is I knew when she went and was done.  She told me with her body language and that makes me KNOW that she knows what she is doing on the potty.

I'm still not sure what this means, but for now it is enough.

Hopeful Parents

It's the 12th of the month and my post is now up at Hopeful Parents.  Please click here to go on over and read all about my thoughts on our upcoming IEP for Emma.

Remembering Moments

It seems to me like this year is going at warp speed.  And yet, I wonder how this could possibly be when I would swear that some nights (ahem, teething has not been kind to Emma!) just seemed endless.  Strange how that happens. 

This year I find that we have had so many precious moments that I've wanted to hold on to and remember forever.  I've tried to scrapbook many of them because they are so fleeting I'm sure I won't remember them a year from now, but just as many moments that I've captured in a scrapbook layout there are many that I didn't capture.  

Julia has taken to giving me lots of random kisses throughout the day and is often telling Emma that she is the best sister in the whole world.  My heart melts a little more each time either of these happens.  Emma has begun to start approximating words if you are listening for them and then she shines like star afterwards so happy with herself that she finally was able to get out of her mouth what her mind has been so desperately trying to accomplish for so long.  She doesn't do it often or on command, but when she does my heart blows up to 1000% of its size.  

Speaking of moments to remember - Tonight we were playing outside in the tent and Julia was pretending to sleep.  Emma kept "waking up" Julia and each time I told her to say - Wake up, Julia!  This is a common game we play but this time she said it - Waaay ooop oolia.  WOW!

Both girls just love to play and some of the favorite games around here are to build forts or to hide under the covers and have me or Chris look for them.  Then there was the day that Julia, Emma and I decided to play in their room for much of the morning and then lay out a picnic lunch right on their floor.  We shut the door to keep Finnegan out of the room because it's just not that big of a room to have a picnic spread on the floor that our food loving dog could stay away from.  After that lunch we listened to the Imagination Movers on the iPad and had a little dance party and talked about things we liked, disliked, and wanted to do with the rest of the summer.  That was one of my favorite days this year with the girls and I know they felt it was a bit magical, too.  Julia still talks about that day.  

With Emma going to start pre-school in the next month and Julia in her last year of pre-school before she heads off to (GASP!) 5 day a week kindergarten next year I find that I want to hold onto these moments even more.  I'm going to try and journal a bit more here to capture some of the more mundane parts of our life that I know I'll love looking back on when the girls have grown.  My Mom did such a great job of creating special photo albums and keeping mementos for me that I still treasure and I want to be able to do the same for Julia and Emma.

The truth is that making time to capture this information in a central location is not my strong point and I'm so glad to know that my Mom has my back.  She keeps a journal for each of her grandchildren - all milestones, height/weight stats, vaccination dates, photos, funny things they do, etc.  I can't think of a nicer gift that she can give them or us.  

I go to bed tonight thinking of the photos we had taken for Emma's 3rd Birthday portrait.  I can barely see any trace of baby in them - she's growing into a beautiful little girl.   And I know I'll sleep soundly not because there was too little sleep last night (although, come to think of it there was too little!) but because I know we're enjoying life each day and making moments worth remembering.  

A new Tag

Tara over at TMI made a personalized tag for her gorgeous daughter Chloe and I just loved the idea immediately.  I had planned to make one for Emma but one thing led to another and creating Emma's tag fell to the bottom of the perpetual to do list.  Until today!

On Tara's recent post about Chloe's 1st day of school she included a photo of Chloe's backpack with her tag attached and it reminded me how much I wanted a tag for Emma.  So, today I made one for her and then laminated it and will attach it to her wheelchair tomorrow.

I just love it!  Thanks to Tara for the great idea!   

 

Down Time

This weekend we took some time to relax and recharge.  This is not something that we take for granted since we usually have very little "down" time.  And, when we do get a long weekend or unexpected break from running here or there we are often working on any number of things to stimulate Emma's speech or motor skills.  Really....poor Emma can't catch a break from us!  

But, this long weekend we decided to relax a bit and have fun as a family.  We didn't worry about how much time Emma spent in a stander, listening, stretching, etc.  Instead we relaxed, recharged and played!  And our entire family is better for it.  The thing is, when we take this approach Emma usually shines!  She holds herself up really well in her wheelchair, she vocalizes to get our attention, she KNOWS that she is not being asked to work and she is thrilled to fall into the lazy days when they happen.  

So, this weekend we did a bit of shopping, ate some Mexican food, played miniature golf, went to the Wilmington Blue Rocks game and stayed for the fireworks show, ate ice cream from the local creamery and enjoyed a family bar-b-que.  We also slept in and skipped some naps.  Popped some popcorn and watched Camp Rock 2:  The Final Jam.  We talked about all the fun things we are looking forward to in the Fall - like picking apples, the leaves changing colors, doing crafts with the leaves and pine cones.  

September is a busy month for us.  Chris and I will present a final project and graduate from the Partners in Policymaking program.  Julia will start back at school and dance lessons.  Chris will run his first half-marathon and we will all participate in a 5K.  I will spend a lot of time following up on all the paperwork to get Emma's KidWalk gait trainer.  We have Emma's IEP coming up next week and she will likely start pre-school by the end of the month.  I have a lot of anxiety over sending Emma to pre-school, but know that we will only do that once we have all her supports in place and can ensure it will be a good experience for Emma.  

I think we all needed the holiday weekend to recharge for the busy month ahead.