School

Anna turned three on March 13 and started her new school on March 17. She transitioned really well and really enjoys it there. She sees all of her therapists during school hours so when my old office called and offered me a temp job starting April 13, I agreed.

During the 'school year', she starts at 8:40 am and ends at 11:10 am. Her summer hours are a bit longer (9 am - 12:30 pm; today was her first summer session). My mom (and sometimes my dad) picks her up and Dave or I get her around 5 pm. It's been working out really well although I do miss her and feel a bit guilty about my parents doing so much for us especially since they already did so much. But it's a mutual admiration society over there so it's the best situation possible!

The six week temp job turned into a longer assignment and they're now working on making me a full-time employee. Although the income is nice, I wish I could find a happy medium of a part time job that paid a bit more than my former one and a little closer to home than this job so I could work in the morning and then spend the afternoon with Anna. I guess it's still possible to negotiate something with my office but I have a feeling they're not going to be receptive to it so I'm hesitant about even bringing it up. I don't want to mess with a good thing!

So it is what it is for now. . . I'll keep you posted!

Happy Birthday!

Okay, okay, I know Anna's birthday is in March and today's date is June 29, but I haven't had a lot of blogging time these days!

So Anna's birthday fell on a Friday this year so I decided to throw her a 'big girl' party for the first time. I invited friends of mine that have little girls Anna's age, made cupcakes and put together a craft (we made flowers in anticipation of spring). Everyone had a great time playing with Anna's toys and eating the cupcakes, however I over-estimated the three-year-old crowd by adding spinach and mushrooms to the macaroni & cheese. Anna loved it but only one other party goer enjoyed it! Well, at least the parents enjoyed it. The other girls nibbled peanut and jelly sandwiches (barely) and Anna helped herself to the leftovers!

Everyone arrived around 4:30 pm (even though the invitation said 4 pm!) and everyone was gone by 7 pm. Overall it was a very successful party although I think next year I may be better off limiting it to cake and ice cream to ensure a good time is had by all. You live and learn, right?!

Sing a Song

A month or so ago, Anna concocted a microphone out of two toys and was singing in front of the full length mirror in our room. She was singing 'ya ya ya' at the top of her lungs, dancing and laughing hysterically. It was a pretty regular game for about a week, and now when anyone mentions singing, Anna starts in with 'ya ya ya'! Very funny!

It's Been Awhile

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. A lot has happened. I have a list at home of things I want to 'blog' about, but I don't have it handy so I'll just start with the present (for the most part) and fill in the gaps later!

Anna has made a lot of progress with her speech since I last wrote. Her vocabulary improves everyday and she's putting more and more words together. She has a few four word sentences and a lot of two and three word phrases. Her articulation has also come a long way. When I think of certain words that she could barely say a few months ago, it clearly puts it in perspective as to how far she's come. Sometimes I lose sight of this on a daily basis. Of course, I'm still highly anticipating when she will speak more typically - her speech is still really broken and forget about the grammar! Her progress is definitely slow but steady. Well, I guess that's how the tortoise won the race!

We've been potty training the last three weeks or so. I tried back in March before her birthday but felt she wasn't ready. However, three months later when she still didn't seem ready, I felt it was time to make her ready! At first, I just told her she had to try which simply meant sitting on the potty before school and before bed time. She received a sticker if she didn't put up a fight and sat long enough to read a short book or two. She quickly agreed once I put a calendar up in her bathroom and started giving her stickers for every successful 'try'.

After a few days, she still hadn't gone. But interestingly while trying one day, she told me her butt hurt. I had bought a new potty but had been waiting to introduce it by wrapping it and making a big deal about its introduction. Well, apparently that was unnecessary because as soon as I took it out, she was thrilled to sit and her first true success came later that night. The next morning was also successful but we weren't feeling secure enough other than her time at home.

Since she spends so much time at my mom's, I decided I should also buy a potty for her house so they could 'practice' there as well. So we went from simply trying to successfully using the potty when she was either at our house or my mom's. We kept upping the ante by putting panties on intermittently. She did well but wasn't as consistent. But then last week when she had two days off from school, she wanted to wear the panties to my mom's. She was so proud of herself that she didn't want to take them off. She went the whole day with them and seemed to have one minor accident after dinner. She seemed to have caught herself though and told me she needed to use the potty and went some more in the potty itself so I didn't count it as a true accident!

Yesterday we went on an errand with underwear and a dress on and she did great! She used the potty before we left and then didn't go until after we returned and slept for two hours. Her pull up was completely dry and she went a decent amount right after I got her up. So we went for a walk and then next door for dinner without any trouble.

So this morning, I asked her if she wanted to wear a pull up or underwear to school and she answered, 'underwear'. I was so thrilled but felt a bit anxious about it at the same time. Well, I guess I should have trusted my instincts because it turned out not to be a great decision. She had two accidents (both pee but still a pain!). I was disappointed to say the least.

I guess we're going to have to practice more now with the underwear. For the most part we've been going 'commando' so it's easier for her to run and pull up what she's wearing and sit down. Now we have work on waiting until she's in a situation where she can go. I think she was a little 'gun-shy' about telling the teachers as well. At home, she just has to look at me, and we're off! So between having to alert the teachers and get their attention away from the other kids and what they're doing may be a bit of an obstacle.

I guess I need to remember that we've only been working on this for a couple of weeks and not feel so discouraged so quickly. After all, less than three weeks ago, she was still fighting me about even using the potty. She's come a long way quickly and now we just have to figure out the next phase. I guess we'll have to go on more 'training exercises' to teach her to speak up about it! Always problem solving. . . Wish us luck!