I think that Ellie and I could both use a potty training class. We need a lesson on sticking with it. A couple of months ago I started working with her on it, but then the stuttering started. We were advised to back off until the stutter stabilized. Well, that has happened so I "officially" started potty training her yesterday (and it went well), but today both of us are feeling a bit yucky from colds and neither of us was in the mood to tackle it.
I had planned on continuing today despite my illness (isn't that what being a mom is all about??), but when she started feeling yucky and began crying and asking me to, "Just put on a diaper. No panties. No Pull-Up" I relented and switched back to diapers. She has not wanted to sit on the potty at all today. If we were both feeling well I wouldn't have let her have such a backslide, but I guess we'll try again in a few days.
Yesterday she always used the potty when I asked her to and even came to me once and said she needed to go. She was in panties for the evening (her idea, after spending the afternoon with Jamie who is also potty training right now) and stayed completely dry.
So far I can say that potty training a two year old is similar to potty training a puppy: take them to the potty (or yard) every 30 minutes and lavish praise when they go. Don't make a big deal out of accidents and watch for signs of needing to use the bathroom more closely next time. How is it different? Sebastian never yelled, "NO NO NO" at me when I told him we were going to go potty, never threw himself on the ground crying and kicking, and never wanted a sticker when he was done :) I will also say that Sebastian was house-broken in less than a week, and he was only 9 weeks old at the time, so I think it is safe to say that the puppy was easier!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Cute Pictures, Courtesy of Steve
Our neighbor, Steve (Daddy of Ellie's best buddy, Jamison) has an awesome new digital SLR camera and he snapped these pictures of Ellie a couple of days ago. Thanks, Steve! They turned out awesome!
Easter Weekend
Here are some pictures of the Easter egg hunt that we took Ellie to, as well as a couple of pictures from Easter morning.
Ellie really enjoyed the egg hunt, once she figured out what it was all about. Here are pictures, in reverse order:
Easter morning, after she found the basket the Easter Bunny left for her. She was a very excited girl and kept saying, "The Easter Bunny left presents just for me!"
Ellie really enjoyed the egg hunt, once she figured out what it was all about. Here are pictures, in reverse order:
No more candy to find - sad girl.
Waiting in the cold for the hunt to start.
Easter morning, after she found the basket the Easter Bunny left for her. She was a very excited girl and kept saying, "The Easter Bunny left presents just for me!"
Easter dress. She had to wear a turtle neck and long pants under it because of the very cold weather.
Look at the treats the Easter Bunny left me!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Coloring Eggs
Last weekend Tim, Ellie, and I colored eggs. We didn't color eggs last year, so this was Ellie's first experience with egg coloring. She had a blast and really enjoyed watching the transformation. She was also really interested in the egg boiling process. I think Ellie's hands are finally dye-free as of a couple of days ago; they were fairly red, purple, blue, orange, and yellow for awhile!
Tomorrow we are hoping to go to a local Easter egg hunt. We tried to go last weekend, but it was either canceled because of the snow or I read the date wrong. Ellie was pretty disappointed that she didn't get to see the Easter bunny and "hold him in my's arms and pat him." She may be still disappointed tomorrow when she does actually see him - and he is just some random guy dressed up in a suit and not a real rabbit!
I have given up trying to figure out the order in which Blogger decides to insert my pictures, so these are ridiculously out of order, but you get the idea.
Tomorrow we are hoping to go to a local Easter egg hunt. We tried to go last weekend, but it was either canceled because of the snow or I read the date wrong. Ellie was pretty disappointed that she didn't get to see the Easter bunny and "hold him in my's arms and pat him." She may be still disappointed tomorrow when she does actually see him - and he is just some random guy dressed up in a suit and not a real rabbit!
I have given up trying to figure out the order in which Blogger decides to insert my pictures, so these are ridiculously out of order, but you get the idea.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Spring Fun!
We've been having some fantastic springtime fun lately, with temperatures in the 70's! It came as a complete shock to us when we got a foot (plus some) of snow yesterday. The nice thing about spring snow is that it melts quickly and is fun to play in since the temperatures climb right back up again! I haven't gotten any pictures of the snow, but here are some pictures of the weekend or two before.
Ellie started speech therapy and her stutter is really improving. We are very hopeful that it will pass quickly with all the support that we have lined up for her.
Some pictures of Ellie taken while Tim and I prepared the garden. Ellie "planted" some rocks.
These pictures were taken when I was attempting to photograph my new line of bibs and burp cloths. (They have been selling like hotcakes at the store in town!) Anyway, Ellie decided to help out!
Ellie started speech therapy and her stutter is really improving. We are very hopeful that it will pass quickly with all the support that we have lined up for her.
Some pictures of Ellie taken while Tim and I prepared the garden. Ellie "planted" some rocks.
These pictures were taken when I was attempting to photograph my new line of bibs and burp cloths. (They have been selling like hotcakes at the store in town!) Anyway, Ellie decided to help out!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Some Fun
A couple of weekends ago we went and played at a nearby park. Ellie loves to throw rocks in the creek and could do it for hours on end if we let her!
It was hard to pass up taking a picture of Ellie with this Mastiff; it isn't everyday you find a dog that is *this* much bigger than you! (As you can clearly see, Ellie has absolutely no fear of dogs whatsoever!)
Playing in a "dinosaur egg" sculpture at the park:
Throwing rocks:
On the stuttering front things are okay in some ways, worse in others. Overall, the amount of stuttering has dropped from being 50% or more of her speech, to being only 10% or so. On the surface this is good; however, the drop has been accompanied by an increase in her secondary behaviors. She blinks hard, clears her throat, holds her breath, and restarts her sentences in order to get through a tough word. Her speech is better in the morning and when she is calm than in the evening or when she feels rushed. We are seeing Dr. R tomorrow at the local university to have her evaluated and possibly referred for speech therapy. We are very interested to hear what he has to say.
We'll keep you posted!
It was hard to pass up taking a picture of Ellie with this Mastiff; it isn't everyday you find a dog that is *this* much bigger than you! (As you can clearly see, Ellie has absolutely no fear of dogs whatsoever!)
Playing in a "dinosaur egg" sculpture at the park:
Throwing rocks:
On the stuttering front things are okay in some ways, worse in others. Overall, the amount of stuttering has dropped from being 50% or more of her speech, to being only 10% or so. On the surface this is good; however, the drop has been accompanied by an increase in her secondary behaviors. She blinks hard, clears her throat, holds her breath, and restarts her sentences in order to get through a tough word. Her speech is better in the morning and when she is calm than in the evening or when she feels rushed. We are seeing Dr. R tomorrow at the local university to have her evaluated and possibly referred for speech therapy. We are very interested to hear what he has to say.
We'll keep you posted!
Friday, February 20, 2009
One More Thing
After writing the post below, the phone rang and I spoke with "Dr. R." (Sorry, but I'm not going to use his real name, as he is very prominent in the country, and I still am not ready to give up our location in the "real" world!) He is the leading researcher at a university near us. He gave us a realistic view on Ellie's prognosis (75% chance of a full recovery before age 6) and also agreed to see her. Yay! I was ecstatic that someone was finally ready to give us a full evaluation. Based on the information I gave him on the phone, he agrees that she should probably start therapy ASAP for the best results.
We won't know exactly when her appointment is until Monday, but I am glad to go into the weekend knowing that we'll get some solid answers soon! (Even if we do have to pay out-of-pocket for those answers...)
We won't know exactly when her appointment is until Monday, but I am glad to go into the weekend knowing that we'll get some solid answers soon! (Even if we do have to pay out-of-pocket for those answers...)
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