Elena

Elena

Friday, August 31, 2012

School, Birthday, and Potty Training

This has been an eventful week. Monday I started a new semester. Tuesday Elena started her second year of preschool. Thursday Elena turned four! And today we started the "nothing but underwear all weekend" potty training technique. I don't know if it has a real name but thats what I'm calling it. I'm sure everyone knows what that is but just in case it's when you put your kid in only underwear or sometimes nothing at all for the whole weekend. They don't like peeing on themselves so they learn fast.

SCHOOL
Elena is going to the same preschool as last year but different teachers. Her new teacher has been teaching for something around 20 years. She seems knowledgeable but more strict than her last teacher. I wonder how that will go over with the kids. Structure is important but you've got to be flexible when working with preschoolers and their parents. I took Elena to school 3 minutes late and the teacher have me the evil eye. Interesting since the day before SHE was 10 minutes late. Anyway, we'll see how this year goes.

BIRTHDAY
Yesterday was Elena's fourth birthday. It amazes me that it's been that long already. Since we had done her party a couple weeks ago, we just did a little thing at home yesterday. She had her favorite food for dinner, speghettioos, and M&MS for desert. Her grandparents (my side) and her dad called and sang Happy Birthday to her.

Her big party with her friends was great. I made a delicious chocolate cake surrounded by KitKats and topped with M&Ms. We had a piƱata and a craft table. I played some fun kid songs in the background. Of course we had yummy food too. All the kids seemed to have fun. They liked playing musical cushions and even blind-folded musical cushions. I'm glad she had a good time and got to play with some friends.

POTTY TRAINING
So far, potty training has been basically nonexistent. It's not that we haven't or aren't trying but she has no interest in it. I have FINALLY gotten her to tell me when she needs to go but unfortunately she doesn't tell me until she's going or just gone in her diaper. I considered doing the "naked baby" also know as "only underwear" method but 95% of my apartment is carpet and I didn't want to have to clean all that or have the carpers messed up. Plus she doesn't seem to care if she has a wet diaper.

Then the other day she spilled water all down her dress and flipped out. She cried, stomped her feet, and tried to pull the dress off. With a reaction like that I thought maybe I should just bite the bullet and do it so we went to the store and bought her some big girl underwear.

Today was the first day she wore them. I waited until after school so she only wore them for a few hours today. She didn't have any accidents but she also didn't go in toilet. I was surprised she didn't go to the bathroom at all. I put her in a Pull Up for bedtime. She seemed to like them though. She likes being a big girl. We'll see tomorrow how the rest of the potty training goes. Her preschool teacher said she would have no problem changing Elena if/when she starts wearing underwear, even if that means changing her clothes because of accidents. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Just a few pictures

No time for an update but thought I'd post a few recent pictures.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Reflecting

With Elena's 4th birthday coming up in just a couple weeks I find myself reflecting on the past 4 years. So much has happened and she has grown so much. It's hard to believe how much time has past already. It seems like only a few months ago she was a little infant bundles up in my arms. Now she is walking, talking, singing and FINALLY answering my questions. Parents always say that time flys and their kids grow up so fast but I didn't realize just how fast. I feel if I blink Elena will be going off to college!

Elena is such a joy to have and I'm thankful everyday that I'm her mom. Sometimes having a blind child can be difficult but I imagine it's not much more than raising a sighted child. I am often asked what's it like raising a blind child and I say that after the first year or so it's just like raising any other child. Once I got used to the uniqueness of things that go into raising a blind child it felt normal to me. Many times I'd forget she was blind or that she wasn't like every other child.

Blind children are just like other children. They have tantrums. They have good days and bad days. They want love from their parents and entertaining toys. They want to go to the park and can make shopping difficult. Whether your child is blind, sighted, mentally handicapped or healthy, they should all be treated the same because they are the same. One may have to do things different than the other but they are the same.

Elena will be starting her second year of pre-school in a couple weeks and I can't wait to see what she accomplishes this year. She is so smart. I wouldn't be surprised if starts reading by the end of the year. She follows the Braille lines with both hands and, according to her Braille teacher, knows the brailler better than get kindergarteners. She has known her left and right for maybe a year now and she LOVES to read. She doesn't always want to read with her hands but she loves listening to the story, holding the book, and turns the pages. She liked to recite the stories to herself and sometimes add her own twists. She is very good with her cane and learning more about using it correctly. She enjoys playing with her swing-cell and learning new letters.

She still isn't potty trained and is lacking some communication skills. She gets easily frustrated and throws things and/or hits herself when she is mad. She isn't perfect, no one is, but she is the sweetest little girl and her laugh is adorable.

Four years. Wow. Four years old. She sure has come a long way. My little angel is growing up.