Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Good news and bad news

The good news since my last entry is that Danielle's best friend Nat is coming to her birthday party after all. Thanks to the hot weather we've been having lately so all the snow on out local mountains had melted and Nat's parents' ski trip got canceled. Some other parents called on Sunday so we're expecting 6 girls to show up and celebrate her birthday with her.
We had fun Sunday shopping for her party supplies until I had to go in to work for several hours.
The bad news is that our hamster died on Monday. She didn't look good Sunday night when I checked on her before bed and when I tried to hold her she gave the sign language of "Don't touch me and leave me alone." Her breathing was rapid and we don't know what happened. Naturally, Danielle was devastated when she discovered her hamster was not breathing. She said she didn't want her hamster to die. Our pet hamster almost had her 1 year anniversary this coming March but she didn't quite make the milestone.
It's so sad to see the empty cage in our laundry room last night and I don't want any more pets for a while.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Danielle's up coming Birthday

Two days ago, she came home and told me that her best friend Nat isn't coming to her birthday party because she's going skiing. She had teary eye when she said this.
D: "Only Sonia is coming to my party!"
Me: "Well, remember how your class mate A also has her ice skating party on the same day? That's why some of your friends can't attend both parties"
D while crying: "But I want Nat to celebrate my birthday with me!"
Me: "Unfortunately, your birthday is on a long weekend so people make other plans to go out of town. I'm sure she rather come to your party than go ski."
D: "Has any one called you yet?"
Me: "Not yet. I asked them to call by the 8th"
She started to cry hard and I asked her why?
D: "I'm sad because no one likes me."
Me: "That's not true. It's really a timing issue and so don't think that no one loves you"
She cried in my lap and after a good cry she felt better and went on with her routine stuff.
As of now, no one has called to say that they are coming to her dog party so I'm not sure what I'm going to do.
Sigh..

Monday, February 04, 2008

Potty training- Stage 2

Since my January entry, I’ve inform Secondo's baby sitter, A about potty training strategy, target date, her daily goals and rewards. When I picked Secondo after work I would asked about her daily progress.
A: “I sat her on the potty 3 times and she didn’t pee. When she busy playing, she forgets to let me know when she has to pee.”
Me: “ Can you asked her to go on a scheduled time?”
A: “ I do but she didn’t go.”
I was puzzled and disappointed by A’s lack of excitement and effort every night when I picked up Secondo after work. At home, when Secondo was asked to sit on the potty, she peed 70% of the times. After one week of getting the same song and dance, I stopped asking for progress report and decided to observe A’s potty training routine. A would sit Secondo on the potty for 30 seconds and if she did not pee, then she would dress her and took her out of the bath room. I explained to A that Secondo needed to sit on the potty for at least 3 minutes to give her a chance to go. I was so disappointed with not getting the support from this lady and didn’t really know what to do. I know she has other kids to tend to so I’m still working on a solution that help both of us to reach the ultimate goal. Sigh…
At home we have better success rate. I potty trained her after work, on the weekends and I’m praying to all the gods ruling the universe that the training she got from home is enough reinforcement to carry through the days when she’s at the sitter.
Last weekend, we got her Dora the explorer underwear and she got so excited and wanted to wear it. I told her when she’s wearing her underwear, she had to pee in the potty so Dora won’t get wet. She said “OK”. I went to the kitchen to cook dinner while Secondo was watching TV on the couch next to hubby. Not even 5 minutes went by hubby said “ She is peeing on the couch! Help!” After cleaning up everything, I told her that she’s not ready for Dora underwear yet so she went back to diaper and pull ups. She said “ Alright mama..” in her sad tone of voice.
This pass weekend we were home so she used the potty 90% of the time mostly with me reminding her to go. One time she told me that she had to pee so I sat her down on the potty and went back to the kitchen. Several minutes later she said “ I poo pooed mama! I poo pooed in the potty!” Both Danielle and I ran to the bathroom to see if it was true. We got all excited and praised her left and right. She was so proud of her accomplishment and attempted to take her potty out to the family room to show her dad but we stopped her and asked hubby to meet us in the bathroom instead. This is her 2nd time pooping in the potty so big achievement on her part.
Two step forward one step back is still making baby step progress. It’s not easy to explain to a 2.5 year old child the feeling you get before you have to go. It going to take time for my little one to master bladder control and communication. It’s mostly trial and error. My stretched goal is for her to be fully potty trained by June so she’s able to start preschool in the Summer and make new friends before September. Ultimate goal is to be trained by August so my camp out effort was not wasted. I’ll write about my camping out another day.