Monday, February 15, 2010

A Whole New World Started February 4th

This post has been a long time coming.

On February 4th, it was a relatively normal evening--we were scrambling to get dinner on the table. E and Vivian were proving a little more high maintenance than usual. After what seemed to be forever, we were all finally sitting down and ready to begin our meal. And, just like clockwork, just as the forks are coming to our lips, E confesses: "I have to go to the bathroom".

SIGH. I'm so exhausted. "You know what? You have your shoes and braces on. Just go."

Jason's eyes go REAL WIDE. E gets down from her chair and heads to the bathroom. She's never tried this before--normally we have been right by the door, ready to spring into action to avoid a head injury. Jason and I were frozen in worried anticipation. if E fell, this could be a horrible setback. We didn't end up having to wait for thud, though...E kept giving us the play-by-play.

"I'm on the potty!"
"I'm not falling in Mommy, don't worry!"
"I'm WIPIN!"
*singing now* "I AM PULLIN' UP MY PANTS!"
"MOOOOOOOM! I decided I'm NOT GOING TO HANG UP THE TOWEL 'CAUSE I CAN'T REACH THE HOLDER."
"I'm DONE! MOOOOOOM! I'm comin' out!"
"HERE I COME!!!!"

She is practically DANCING her way back to the table! For us to NOT have to drop everything to help her to the bathroom is a HUMONGOUS change in our lives. Not to mention the confidence boost this has given E--she wants to do everything she can--get her own drink (we now put a cup so she can get water from the fridge--she can even walk to the table with it!), help bring dishes to the sink (relatively clean, light, ideally unbreakable tableware), swiff (she can even do it without holding on to the wall!), and has started putting some of her toys away (only when she feels like it). She can do these things when she is wearing her shoes and braces.

I have a feeling this will be the way things are for a while--when she is wearing her shoes and braces, she can do a certain tier of things; when she is wearing her sneakers sans AFOs, a different set of things, and when barefoot, much fewer things. That's okay--we're determined to turn those few things into many.

8 comments:

Katy said...

Gosh. Congrats to you both. She is just growing by leaps and bounds, isn't she?

Meadow said...

Yay! Yay! That is so totally fantastic! Love the new pic of E on your home page, too. Such a cutie!

How did you approach potty training? Peyton is great on pooping on the toilet, and she can urinate on command (if she has to go while she happens to be on the toilet), but I don't think she gets the concept of holding it in. I haven't pushed it much because it seems that there's always so much else we're "working on."

We got some parallel bars for at home, and Peyton is really putting together the motor planning for using her walker. We are so excited to be making some headway. It's so true, what you said about the importance of a confidence boost that comes with some success.

Amy said...

Meadow, we tried just about everything. What ended up working for us was constant reminders about an hour apart, then trying to let her tell us when she needed to go. That wasn't all that successful--b/c whenever she was preoccupied, she wouldn't tell us and she'd have an accident in her pull-ups. We didn't want her to be punished for having an accident...so instead, we would try to make an activity contingent on her potty awareness. For instance, we got to watch a movie--but if she had an accident, the movie was over. I set her up for it too--underwear, lots of drinks before sitting down to watch a fun movie. And sure enough, she peed right there in the chair in the first 5 minutes. We didn't get mad, but we all had understood the rule beforehand, so the movie was off. That sunk in REAL FAST without E feeling she her parents were angry or frustrated with her incontinence.

chelle said...

Congrats E.... That is a wonderful milestone that I hope to have one day in the near future. My Hannah has been potty trained for abot a year and a half but can not take herself there and do her business by herself but we hope it will happen soon. I too love the new top home page pic she is a beautie.

Erin said...

Yay, Elena! That's awesome! :-)

Kat said...

YAY, GO E, GO GIRL!!! :)

GingerB said...

Doodle success! How very exciting for the whole family. Tell her that her internet fans are proud of her.

Anonymous said...

WELL DONE ELENA

MELISSA