Hearing Aids!

We've got them!  We picked them up and learned all about them on Thursday.  Becca was super excited about them.  They are pink behind the ear with translucent pink earmolds with sparkles.  Very pretty.  We are getting the hang of getting them in so they will stay.  She's done pretty well adjusting to all the noise in the world.  On our way from the office to the car, she said, "Mommy, why is da elwabator [elevator] making noise?"  Because they always have, baby.  Welcome to the world.

There have been a few times that she has been overwhelmed.  At a birthday party on Saturday, she pulled me out of the den and said, "Mommy, I just want to sit wif you in da different room all by ourselves."  So we did for a few minutes, then went back to the action.  No biggie.  The volume adjustment and on/off switches have been deactivated so that she doesn't play with them.  When she gets older, she will have access to them to adjust as needed.

John and I are thrilled not to have to yell and repeat ourselves allthetime.  So much less stressful.  There's something about an uncooperative 4-year-old being much more bearable when you don't have to start out yelling.  This doesn't mean, of course, that she listens all the time.  Several times we've caught her in the regular, "What did you say?" loop - she asks, we repeat; she asks, we repeat; she asks, we repeat.  Finally I say to her, "Becca, I think you can hear me now.  Are you listening?"  With the obnoxious honesty of a 4-year-old, she'll say, "No, I'm not wistening."  So now we have a new rule: no asking questions unless you are going to listen to the answer.

John filmed her reaction the first time they put the hearing aids on and turned them on.  The audiologist put them both in her ears before turning them on.  Once they are turned on, it takes about a minute for them to be ready to go - they make a little chime sound (the pixie dust sound, I'm told ;) ) and then go live.  I think you'll be able to tell in the video when they start working for her.  We are so lucky to have the technology and access to care to help her hear!  Enjoy the video.  Life is good.

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Soccer Girl

Becca went to Tiny Tots Soccer Camp a few weeks ago and LOVED it!  I think we're going to try a season this fall.  I gotta say, I'm a lot more comfortable becoming a soccer mom than the dance mom from last year, tomboy that I am.  And she's pretty adorable in her shin guards!

3

I just put my 3-year-old to bed for the last time.  In the morning, she'll be a 4-year-old.  Bittersweet.

Three seems to get a bad rap.  I think I've mentioned on here before than when working with other people's kids, I have found 3 to be one of my favorite ages.  Numerous friends assured me that it would be different when it was my own child being ridiculously stubborn and emotionally (and physically) out of control.  And we definitely had plenty of awful 3-year-old moments.  Becca is not a mellow kid.  :)  But 3 has also been, by far, the most entertaining age.  Her little mind is so busy making connections, and you never know what she is going to pop out with next.  For example, on the way home today, she said, "When boys come to my house, I'm going to punch them."  What what?  She's a trip.  If I'm wearing black, she pretends that I'm Ursula (of Little Mermaid fame) and runs away.  Obnoxious, yes.  Hilarious, yes (for a while).  Tonight after John got her out of the bath, she ran around the house naked and hid in the pantry.  Dripping wet.  Crazy kid.

Anyhow, Becca's third year has been a good one for us.  She's done pretty well health-wise, she's made a LOT of progress on eating, she's grown fairly well, she's made progress in school, and she'd getting close to being fully pee-potty trained (not so much with the poop).  Considering where we were 4 years ago, praying for a few wonderful minutes with our sweet girl, I'll take every single one of the 2,101,290 minutes she's been in this world...even the obnoxious ones.

Some recent shots of 3 in all its glory...

Sleeping in her humongous big girl bed, passed down from another Rebecca at church!

Modelling her Big Sister shirt she made with Miss Becca

Tinker Becca

Ready to swim!

Strawberry pickin' with Grandma

First braid!  Her hair is finally long enough!

Becca and Daddy pretending to be Lady and the Tramp.  That's amore!

Look Ma, No Hands!

Becca is getting more adventurous in her exploration of food textures (particularly if there is chocolate involved), but she's still not a fan of getting her hands messy.  Exhibit A:

 

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Community Helpers

Becca's class has been doing a unit on community helpers, learning about public servants like firefighters, police officers, teachers, construction workers, mail carriers, nurses, and doctors.  At the end of the unit, they had "Dress Like a Community Helper" day.  Not surprisingly, Becca chose to dress like one of the helpers she is way too familiar with - a doctor.  Apparently, the day before, when they talked about doctors, Becca told the class everything a doctor does at an appointment.  It seems she's been through a few of those.  :)  Here's our Dr. Becca!

Feeding Therapy Victory!

Yes, we are alive. And here's proof. Hooray for the chocolately, protein-y goodness of Nutella! That's a way for a girl to get some calories!

Developmental Update

Okay, I know I've been slacking on giving you actual information about our rock star preemie.  We've had a lot of assessments and change over the past several months as Becca turned 3, so let's rewind back to the spring, as we approached her birthday.

Becca received Early Intervention services from the time she came home from the NICU to her third birthday, and they made a TREMENDOUS impact of her development and our understanding of the ways we could encourage her to meet her milestones, albeit at her own pace.  Early Intervention is a federally-mandated, state-sponsored program, and it is worth every penny our taxes put towards it (and could use a lot more pennies thrown that direction).  Without it, Becca never would have made the progress she has made, and it's even more important to other kids whose parents aren't able or willing to go to advocate and care for them the (very difficult) way that kids with special needs require, because the Early Interventionists are able to (somewhat) step into that role and equip parents to, well, parent better.  So, we are fans of Early Intervention.

But once you turn 3, if you require "services" (therapy and/or special instruction), you are the responsibility of the public school system.  So beginning in January, we began transition meetings with the Williamson County school psychologist.  A few months later, Becca had a whole battery of assessments: one morning the psychologist and the speech therapist double-teamed; another morning the physical therapist and the occupational therapist worked with her.  We then had several meetings with me and John (and Becca), the psychologist, an OT, a PT, a SLP (speech/language pathologist), an early childhood special education teacher, and either the school principal or assistant principal.  These meetings were...difficult.  And at times, not-so-professional.  And definitely not family-friendly (like most everything in Early Intervention is designed to be), meaning that everything was at their convenience, on their schedule (or re-schedule), and flexible only on our end.  We even had to pull Becca out of therapy one morning to have a meeting about how Becca needs therapy.  Ridiculous.  BUT - in the end, we were (and are) VERY happy with the Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) that we have in place for Becca.  Here's what it includes:

• Physical therapy:  Becca's biggest area of delay continues to be gross motor (motor skills that use the big muscles, like walking, running, jumping, climbing, etc.).  At her assessment, Becca was 34 months old, and she scored 20 months in this area, so she obviously need physical therapy, which she will get at school 20 minutes a week.
• Occupational therapy: Occupational therapy mostly works in 2 domains: fine motor and sensory processing.  In her fine motor assessment (again at 34 months), Becca scored 28 months, which is actually considered the very bottom edge of normal, though there's still a delay.  However, we know Becca's sensory processing shows significant dysfunction, as she demonstrates "over-responsiveness to visual, auditory, touch and oral tactile forms of sensory input that impacts her ability to attend to task in busy or noisy environments, impacts her ability to participate in daily functional activities at home and at school, and impacts her readiness to learn;" "sensory seeking with visual, auditory, proprioceptive and vestibular forms of sensory input that also impact her ability to attend to task;" and "decreased perception of proprioceptive and vestibular sensory input.  Combined with her gross motor skill delays, this impacts her balance and coordination along with her higher lever motor planning skills."  The OT's rec?  "Becca needs consultative OT services integrated into the classroom."  Which won her a place in the...
• Early Childhood Special Education classroom:  While Becca was somewhat borderline in whether she qualified for services because of her strengths in the communication and cognitive domains (talkative genius that she is), she qualified for classroom instruction because of the ways that her particular delays impact her ability to access the classroom environment, appropriately attend to task and progress towards kindergarten readiness.  I was really happy that she qualified for classroom services because it is SUCH  a great program, and we L.O.V.E. Ms. Jamie, her teacher.  More on how the classroom program is structure below.
• Transportation to and from school:  Yep, she rides the short bus, and we're so proud of it! 

What it doesn't include:

• Speech therapy: Becca is no longer delayed in her receptive or expressive language.  In fact, at another round of assessment at the NICU follow-up clinic, when Becca was 36 months, she scored 42 months on expressive language.  That's my girl! 
• Feeding therapy:  Because everything done through the school is focused purely on helping the kids success from an educational perspective, they do not provide feeding therapy, I guess because you can be fully tube-fed and still participate in the educational process fully.  Not that it's totally disconnected; the sensory work they do in OT especially can help make progress in her sensory-based feeding issues. 

So, what is Becca's schedule like these days?  Well, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, she's in school from 8:30-11:30.  They have a morning and afternoon session, and Becca is in the morning session, since she (theoretically) still naps in the afternoon.  (You get to do one or the other.)  Wednesdays, they don't have class so that the teachers and therapists can do assessments and IEP meetings.  On Wednesday, Becca and I head out to her private PT and OT sessions anyway, so that worked out for us.  (But, yes, we are still going to PT, OT and feeding therapies at Vandy in addition to the school therapies.)  It's frustrating that the program schedule is SO not working-parent friendly, and Becca's teacher even said in one of the meetings the she wouldn't have been able to participate in a program like this as a kid because her parents both worked.  But part of that is a function of the community we're in, where there are many families who have one parent stay home with the kiddos - but it's living in this same community that makes being a part of the awesome program possible. 

And the program is awesome.  Half of the kids are on an IEP (a.k.a. have special needs) and half are peer models from the community (a.k.a. normal kids - by the way, it's FREE preschool for these kids, and I don't know why everybody doesn't put their kid in this program, particularly if the schedule does work for your family!).  There are always four adults in the classroom: a teacher, two teacher's aides, and one therapist.  The therapist alternates between speech and occupational because both of those disciplines provide integrated services, meaning that they build the therapy into the classroom program.  (The PT pulls Becca out for her session.  It's have to practice walking on a balance beam, climbing and jumping with 13 other 3-year-olds without it becoming pure chaos!). 

Everything they do in school is coordinated, but in such a way that the kids don't notice or feel confined. They work on 2-week storybook units, meaning that they base their different activities on one book for two weeks.  For example, they have been studying The Kissing Hand, which is a really sweet book about a little raccoon who misses his mommy at school, so she kisses his hand so that he always has her love with him.  So in OT, they stuffed "raccoon tails" (tube socks) with newspaper and painted them.  In art, they made a little raccoon mask.  In dramatic play, they wore their masks and tails and pretended to be raccoons.  Another time in art, they made trees by drawing rectangles for the tree trunk (because the rectangle is the base shape for the letter of the week, which was "F") and glued cotton balls on the top for the leaves (an activity Becca is averse to because it involves getting glue on your hands).  It's just so well thought-out!  So, like I said, it was a little frustrating getting there and working out the scheduling logistics so she can go to school and I can work, but it is so, so, so worth it.

And we're still busy outside of school.  Monday afternoon, she gets a super quick nap/rest time in before we head out to feeding therapy, and on Thursdays (starting this week), we'll go to ballet in the evening.  Add in Wednesday therapies and weight check and the regular Sunday/Wednesday church schedule, and she's one BUSY little girl!  And I'm one tired mama...but, thankfully, we've got a great Team Becca, including SuperDad, her second family (the aforementioned Lovells), and a new SUPER babysitter who - get this - used to play Mickey and Minnie at Disney World.  I mean, really, could you have any better credentials for playing with young kids?  :) 

We're slowly getting adjusted to the new schedule and working out some of the (pretty major) kinks - and relying heavily on the loving hands at church to make this whole mom's a pastor-dad's a pastor-Becca's got special needs charade work.  And after I had to steam clean the youth room carpet after Becca disconnected her tube feeding while "napping" in there while mommy and daddy worked, we're having to think creatively about scheduling.  But we'll get there.  And we're accepting any and all advice.  :) 

Here are some pictures of the big elementary school student!

"Bye bye, Mommy!"

"Tan I go NOW?" 

Time for one more goodbye on her first day

There's the short bus, dropping her off right in front of our house!

So tired after school - "No picture, Mommy!"

My Crazy-Awesome Kid

I'm been really discouraged lately, thinking about how much "catching up" Becca still has to do, even though we've hit the magic age by which all symptoms of prematurity should have magically disappeared. (That's the age of 3, mind you, and the general thinking is that preemies, if they are going to catch up developmentally, do it by age 2, though we give micropreemies like Becca another year because of the additional challenges they face.) I won't get into all the reasons I've been discouraged, but they are there, they are real, and I've got to own up to it. But then this evening, I was typing up a quick summary of the issues Becca and I faced in my pregnancy and the rocky road she had in the NICU, and I'm once again reminded that everything she does is a miracle. (And someday I really am going to write that post about my theological understanding of miracles, so for now please don't overanalyze my use of the term.) The lists are written for other preemie mamas, so some of you may not understand all of the terms, but don't worry about that. Here they are:

Pregnancy: 27.6 weeks, severe IUGR (370 grams), fatal prognosis @ 17 weeks, 1 week hospital bedrest, emergency c-section. Prematurity due to pre-e, HELLP, IUGR, Fetal Distress (including severe heart decelerations) and Reversed Blood Flow. In other words, my pregnancy was a clusterf&*^. But I have a cute kid now!

Becca: 27.6 weeks (I tend to think of her as a 28-weeker) - very severe IUGR, anemia, mild CLD, osteopenia (multiple fractures), jaundice (& hyperbilirubemia), transfusions (26), multiple infections, pulmonary hypertension, hypothyroidism, septo-optic dysplaysia, silent aspiration, double inguinal hernias (repaired surgically), feeding difficulties, FTT, g-tube (at age 2), multiple failed hearing tests (functionally deaf for 8 months, corrected with tubes), adenoids out, plagiocephaly and helmet therapy, severe sensory processing disorder resulting in feeding problems and g-tube dependence, gross and fine motor delays, growth hormone injections. 123 day NICU stay, 20 days inpatient since NICU discharge.


So, yeah, if you didn't know Becca and just read this list, there's no way that you'd guess that she took 4 ballet classes this week AND peed in the potty twice. That's my daughter.

Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny didn't really get her act together to stop by our house on Saturday, the day that she normally visits pastors' kids, but she did manage to stop by during Becca's nap on Sunday.  Becca LOVES the Little People dollhouse she left for her!  

And Becca really got into finding the eggs that she and Kate dyed on Saturday!

Afterwards, we spent a lot of time saying, "Tank you, Eassa Bunny!" since Becca insists on thanking people (and bunnies, I guess) over and over and over and over and over.  She's a grateful kid.  :)

Biker Chick!

Looks like Becca doesn't need Mama anymore to be a biker chick!  She's got wheels herself, and she knows how to use them!  Big, big, big thanks go out to Mr. Kyle, Miss Ashley's (our PT's) husband, who specially adapted this tricycle so that Becca could have a bike just like the other kids her age - and still reach the pedals!  Ashley and Kyle are into cycling (Ashley's actually the one who got me into this triathlon mess :) ), Kyle's an engineer, and Ashley (obviously) works with kids with special needs.  Put them together and, voila!  Ashley and Kyle are a part of a non-profit that works to get adapted bikes to kids that need them.  We were honored for Becca to be their guinea pig.  Kyle essentially stacked the pedals so Becca could reach them and attached velcro straps that wrap around her feet so that she'd have some extra help as she pedaled (much like fancy pedal clips).  He also added a bracket so that he could move her seat up farther.  It means so much to me (and to Miss Ashley!) to see Becca learning such a "normal" child behavior!  Pretty soon, we'll be riding side-by-side (though Becca and I both still love riding together on my bike)!  As Becca says at the end of the video, "Thank you Mr. Kyle [and Miss Ashley]!"

(Sorry about the crappy cinematography.  An uncoordinated camera lady walking backwards while filming on a phone does not good video make.  But I think you get the gist of it!)

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Tinkle, Tinkle

Usually when I'm around Becca and hear a "tinkle" sound, it's her asking me to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," which was the first song she ever sang along to and probably still her favorite song.  But on Monday, right before she went down for her nap in her big girl bed, I heard a different "tinkle" from Becca.  Yeah, that's right...wait for it...

Becca went pee-pee in the potty!

I was changing her diaper and asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty.  She said no, but after a few seconds, she said, "Pee-pee potty!"  After confirming that she did, indeed want to sit on the potty, I whisked her naked butt into the bathroom and sat her down on her squishy Elmo potty seat.  We then started to read our special potty-only Elmo books (a bribe to get her to actually spend a couple of minutes on the toilet), and halfway through Elmo's First Book of Airplanes and Rockets, I heard a little "tinkle tinkle tinkle"!  It wasn't very much; it might have even been only one "tinkle," but I was all over it!  I think it/I actually scared her a little bit.  She looked really surprised but then when I told her she actually got to USE TOILET PAPER (her favorite toy ever) to wipe, she got excited.  The rest of the routine is old hat to her because she does it every time she sits on the toilet: hop down (with Mommy's help - the toilet is very large when you are very wee), flush, watch the water go around and around (and talk about it), climb on the Elmo stool and let mom pick you up to "wass hans."  Except this time we had a massive potty dance in the middle of it, waving our arms, twirling in circles, all with her little naked booty poking out from under her Elmo shirt.  (You could say we're still a little obsessed with the furry red guy.)

I was so proud of her!  I don't expect her to be straight into panties or anything, but, y'all this is huge!  It's huge for any kid, but it's especially huge for one with gross motor delays and hyposensitivity issues.  Because she's under-responsive to sensory stimulation, it's hard for her to recognize the feeling that she's got to "go."  I mean, it's hard for her to actually feel that feeling.  But I think she did this time!  I know part of her wanting to sit on the potty was simply to put off her nap (she always wants to sit on the potty before bedtime!), but the diaper I had just taken off of her was really dry, and when she got to the potty, she started "tooting" (and told me every time she did) and, of course, peed, so I think she might actually be connecting the toilet with the sensation and the appropriate response to it.  She's associated the toilet with pee and pooh for quite sometime now - at least as the place where Mommy and Daddy pee and pooh.  But for her to realize that she can make things happen there, too, is awesome!

I'm not tossing out the diapers tonight, but I might just wait a little while before I decide just how jumbo a pack I should buy this week!

Big Girl Bed?

Becca and I made a quick trip to Target last night.  And though it's not really related to this post, I've got to tell to tell you that on the way to the store Becca was chanting, "Yay Tardet!  Yay Tardet!"  I've never been prouder.  BUT - the point is that while we were at the store, Becca picked picked out this:  

It's her big girl bedding set!  

(Please forgive the phone photo.  We seem to have gotten one of the last three sets in the world, as they are not available on Target's website, Amazon or Ebay.  Shoot - maybe I should sell this sucker for a 300% profit!)


Becca got to choose from among alphabet, flower and puppy bedding sets, and she chose alphabet.  She knows how much her mommy loves words.  :)  When I handed the package to her, she tossed it (very awkwardly) into the back of the cart and said, "HOME!"  I felt like was driving her getaway car.  


We are hoping to pick up a toddler bed from a friend in the next couple of days.  We've already got a hand-me-down bedrail, so once we get the bed, we'll be good to go.  


Apparently I'm dead-set on making the switch to the big girl bed.  But I'm not exactly sure why.  I could give you several good reasons why we shouldn't move Becca out of the crib, but I just feel like the time is right.  She doesn't know how to disconnect her feeding tube (on purpose, at least), so she'll be tethered to her pump, which will keep her from wandering around her room.  I'm planning on putting the bedrail up (if it's possible to use on a toddler bed) so that she's semi-contained, since she's not able to climb/crawl over things very well.  She is a good sleeper and usually goes to sleep quickly (with the occasionally restless "naptime" being the exception - but that has gotten better since we started hooking her up to her pump during naps).  


I don't know.  She's 2 1/2 now.  I think she's ready.  I think I'm ready.  I've wanted to do it for a while now but have made myself wait.  But it just feels right.  I think we might just go for it!  


What do you think?


p.s.  This is a good opportunity to see how often SuperDad checks the blog, as he's not fully aware of my crib graduation plans.  He might just be in for a surprise when he comes home from work one day this week.  

Baby Rosie

Santa brought Becca a very special baby!  Meet baby Rosie, the newest Bitty Baby in the Hill house (the first, of course, being Becca).  (And yes, the Reverend Cheap-O (that'd be me) did actually purchase a brand-name baby doll.  I mean, how could I not?  They named the entire line after our Itty Bitty!)  Becca loves baby Rosie and, frankly, I love her, too.  Maybe if this whole conception thing never does work out, I'll get one for me, too. But I digress.  Actually, that's about all I have to say about Rosie.  Can you believe that?  Few words from me...who knew it was possible?

In sum: Rosie is pretty swell, and her presence somehow makes Becca even cuter.  See for yourself:

She's fascinated by Rosie's fancy open-and-close eyes.

And she loves to de-clothe her.  Theoretically, she likes to change her clothes, but she
hasn't figured out how to put them on her...so she gets her nekked, and I dress her.

The moment before Becca, of course, tipped over backwards.

Again with the eyes...or maybe doll CPR.

  

Recalled stroller or user error?

Awwww...

I can't get over how old Becca looks here!

What every newborn needs: a cup of water, a spoon, and a hamburger bun.

The Snowy Day

For the third time this winter, we've gotten a few inches of snow on the ground!  It seems like this is going to be one of the snowiest winters in Tennessee's recent history.  Or maybe I'm just noticing it more this year because Becca actually likes to play in the snow this year.  When she and I went out in it today, she even walked in the snow without me!  This is a significant improvement in her perception of the snow (remember, anything getting on your hands, clothes, etc is taboo) and in her motor planning, since it takes a bit more coordination to walk on a surface that shifts beneath you.  I was very proud of how she played today!  

We built a snowman,

Whom she "hugged,"

And "kissed," 

And to whom she said, "Ho ho ho!"

(Becca learned to sing "Frosty, the Snowman" at school, and she loves snowmen now.  Note the carrot nose - that was very important to her.)

We made a snow angel, after which she kept requesting (via signs and words) "more sho-andel!"  

So Mommy made one beside her:

 But then she realized she was "duck," which is Becca-speak for "stuck."  Actually, she was eventually able to get up on her own - another great PT workout!

And we explored (after the dogs dug up the mulch through 3 inches of snow!):  

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(And, yes, that was "Uh-oh, Dettios!" you heard her say!  I'm not sure where she learned how to (kind of) say, "Uh-oh, Spaghetti-O's," but I never tire of hearing it!)

Gymnastics!

Last week when I caught Becca doing this:

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I knew that my plan to enroll her in parent-and-child gymnastics classes was a good one! (And apparently Sasha needs them, too!)

We started today at the Spring Hill location of Let It Shine, the same organization through which I took gymnastics classes as a kid. She had so much fun! (And I kind of kind of loved it, too!) We spent the first 15 minutes working our way through an obstacle course, which included activities like climbing up and going down a slide, walking on two stripes (that will eventually turn into crab walking or bear crawling), doing a very rudimentary cartwheel over a bolster, trying out a forward roll down a slope, etc. Then we moved into the big gym and bunny-hopped and/or ran down the tumbling track (think huge mattress with sides), rode a zipline (on a seat and being supported, of course), walked on balance beams, jumped on the trampoline and, yes, jumped into the foam pit! (The foam pit is a big pit with a trampoline at the bottom, filled with foam cubes. It's fun to get lost in, to wiggle in, to bounce in, really to do anything in. Everyone loves the foam pit! Is this a Let It Shine thing, or do most gyms have them?)

Becca did really, really well, considering that it was her first class and given her sensory issues. I often talk about her sensory issues in relation to her eating, but they also come into play (in a big way) with gross motor skills. Since her vestibular (balance) centers are wonky and she doesn't have good proprioception (the ability to know where you are in space and in relation to objects and such), skills like standing, walking, running, jumping (and even earlier skills like crawling) are difficult for her (hence the delays). At the same time, though (I feel like I say that all the time...sensory issues are so complicated!), since she is hypo-sensitive, generally speaking, (meaning that she doesn't really feel things correctly), she seeks sensory input she can feel well, like rolling, spinning, swinging (depending on the direction), shaking and generally rough-housing.

Gymnastics, then, is perfect therapy for her! It works many of the areas that need to be worked by doing things that she loves to do! And actually, her physical therapy sessions these days really do look a lot like gymnastics class, complete with a pit (not foam, but similar), a balance beam, stairs and a track. (There are also other exercises, like kicking a ball, that we do that aren't really gymnastic-y, but they all work together.) And since Becca is so social (if you know her in person, you are smiling now, right? Because she's really beyond social. :) ), the class setting is ideal for her. She loves to watch other kids and then jump right in. According to her (new) occupational therapist (who is great but is no Karla B. ;) ), since things feel weird and unstable to her, she depends more on watching other kids (or people in general) do things to know that they are okay. The good thing is that with her personality, she doesn't just watch for very long!

And I'm not going to lie; I really liked getting to meet other caregivers of young kids in the area (mostly moms, but one dad and one grandmother). I'll also confess that while I certainly don't want to put any pressure on Becca to become a star athlete at age 2, I also have some long-term motivation in enrolling her in gymnastics. Becca can and will do whatever she wants in terms of extracurriculars (as long as we can manage it logistically and financially), but I also want to introduce her to the areas that might be a little easier for her. Let's face it: she's not built like your average WNBA star. Of course I'd never say that she's not going to play and love basketball, but it makes sense to start her off with activities in which she's not already at a disadvantage because of her size. I mean, she is still our Itty Bitty - but I'm not about to be the one to tell her so! :)

p.s. Big thanks to Aunt Daphne and Uncle Rob (and crew), Martha S., and Cousin Mary Lou, our gymnastics "sponsors" for September and October classes! :)

To Pee or Not To Pee (in the Potty)?

Today, I finally found them:

They are apparently the last pack of 2T Elmo panties in the greater Nashville metropolitan area. Okay, maybe not, but I did have to look in 7 different stores to find them, and they were the only Elmo panties (of any size) at Kohl's. Nana Dana found another pack in Ohio, and I've backed up the Elmo supply (our a-game) with a pack of Disney princess panties. (Of course, the 2T's are huge on Becca, but they do seem to stay up on her, which is more than I can say for many of her pants.)

We've got:

an Elmo potty seat,

a Dora potty seat,

a royal potty,

and a Baby Bjorn "Little Potty,"

aka "Bear Potty," and the only one of the bunch that really fits her.

(It's intended for infant potty training and/or travel use.)

And since no trip to the potty is complete without a little reading material, we've got:

(all for sale at www.ittybittybooks.info, of course!), and

because every little fairy needs some potty sound effects.

SuperMom's got some reading material as well:

And, most importantly, I've got a two-year-old daughter who insists on doing everything herself, who takes off her diaper, who knows how to hand Mommy paper and flush the toilet, who can tell me when she is going "pee-pee" and loves to sign "potty" when she's pooping, who can reliably walk to the potty by herself, who can (when she is so inclined!) follow 2-step directions, and who can't stand being wet or dirty. (Hey, we might as well let this sensory processing disorder work for us for a change, right?)

My working plan is to do the three-day potty training boot camp: no diapers, no training pants, no pants at all for three days. Potties scattered throughout the house (hence the multitude of potties). Every 15 minutes without an accident earns an M&M or 2, with trips to the potty at least every 30 minutes. Pee-pee or poop in the potties earns massive celebration and as many M&M's as her tiny hand will hold. Diapers at night, Pull-Ups at nap? Since we don't actually ever get 3 days at home in a row (due to therapy, etc.), we'll have to modify some, but my gut tells me that my headstrong, all-or-nothing kiddo will work best with this kind of method. The questions that remain are 1) whether or not Becca is truly ready (she is on the young side still); and 2) whether or not I can stick to my guns. SuperDad is game for whatever, assuming he still gets to go to work and all. Tentative go-time is next week.

So, what do you think? Am I insane? Can we do this? What potty-training practices do you suggest? What tips or tricks do you have?