Well, I was going to write some really positive updates, such as potty training and returning to Early Intervention, at least for Eva Rose, but now I also have a not so positive update, not horrible, but definitely not great.
For the positives, we have continued to attempt to potty train all 3 kids. There continue to be lots of accidents, but they want to wear underwear, and they do go on the potty, they just don't always tell us when they have to go. On the other hand, over the past couple of days, Michael's accidents have greatly decreased and he is even taking himself to the bathrooma nd even pooping on the potty. We are most likely going against every rule in potty training, but it is working. The one rule we haven't broken is attempting to not make a big deal out of the accidents, but making a big deal when they use the potty. We continue to muster on and hopefully this will work.
Eva Rose tested in to Early Intervention again. The good thing is she will have more speech help and given that she had some fairly significant hearing loss prior to the tubes, I think this is a great thing. She will also be able to go to a drop off group, hopefully, and I think given that Thomas is her twin, he'll get to go also. The other positive is that they will make the referral to the school system like was done for Michael. I am hoping that she will also need an IEP which will get her services for pre-school. I will more than likely have Thomas evaluated, but I have a feeling he will just be going to a regular pre-school program. Maybe he'll be able to be one of the mentors for the pre-school program!
Now for the not so positive news. About a month ago, Eva Rose had a pretty high fever and a couple of swollen areas that had us concerned so I brought her to the doctors, which I never do for just a fever. The covering doctor sent us to the ER so that lab work could be completed and we would hopefully get the all clear. Both my husband and I were concerned about Lyme, which was one of the reasons we went to the doctors. The doctor thought it was a possibility, but when we went to the ER the ER pediatrician said that it wasn't presented in the normal manner for Lyme, but she wanted to test for it any way. All the lab test came back fine, but we needed to wait for the lyme, which takes about a week, and we were sent home. Things cleared up fairly quickly and we got the results from the lyme test which was negative. It was recommended by both our doctor and the ER pediatrician to repeat after a couple of weeks just to ensure that it was a true negative. Well, today I got the results and it was positive! I'm not sure how I am feeling now. We need to treat with antibiotics for 14-21 days. I hate that she has to be on an antibiotic so young and we will definitely have her start eating some kefir so that we can hopefully ensure that the good bacteria that is killed off along with the bad will be replenished and she won't end up with an imbalance to her system. My other concern is what are the long term effects of lyme? Not that she's had any long term effects from her RSV, but I am always watching for that, now we have to watch for long term effects of lyme. It's so not fun being a parent, but yet it's the best thing I've ever done!
Amy
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Frustrations!
The other day was one of my more frustrating day's as a parent. I'm not sure what was going on with me, maybe just normal parenting issues, but no matter what happened, I just felt like I had no petience. We have had my brother in law living with us for the last 3 months and it has not been easy. In fact it is definitely one of the biggest stressors right now. The other big stressor is potty training and trying to get my health back.
Potty training is probably the absolute worst developmemtal stage that I have gone through so far. I'm sure there will be worse, but in 3 1/2 years, this is the worst. The kids are definitely into going on the potty, but they are not quite ready to go without us telling them to go on the potty every so often, like every 1/2 hour or so. Sometimes, we have great days and there are absolutely no accidents the whole day. Sometimes, it seems like all we do is clean up pee and poop. I is finally seeming like Michael is getting it. He will go into the bathroom and either sit on a potty or pee in the toilet. He has even pooped twice on the potty after bringing himself to the bathroom with no prompts from us as parents. His biggest issue is that he loves to pee in any container he can find. This is one thing I am working really hard to try to break. I love his aim, but he needs to learn that there are places to pee and places not to pee. The twins are good about going when we bring them, but no so good about telling they have to go. Though, I have to say, Eva Rose woke up twice last night and after going on the potty went right back to sleep. I think we will just keep on moving forward and hope that they will get it soon.
Lastly, not only are we dealing with the terrible two's times two, but a three year old also. The behaviors and the whining are absolutely driving me mad. I can handle crying, but whining is not something I handle well. I am also not digging the defiant behavior of Thomas. My sweet little boy has all of a sudden started saying no when I ask him to do something. I guess he is just asserting his independence and I just have to remember my favorite developmental theorist, Erik Erikson states that people have different conflicts in life that they need to resolve in order to move on to the next stage of development. My kids are in the autonomy vs doubt stage, at least the twins are. They need to figure out how to have a sense that they are able to have some control over their environment. I guess, I need to figure out how to maintain some independence without giving them free reign. Michael, on the other hand, should be moving into initiative vs guilt. This almost seems like a continuation of more advanced independence and that is exactly where Michael seems to be. As I re-read some of the negatives, I think this may be what we are seeing with Michael's frustrations. He is learning to master different tasks and be much more independent and when he is unable to achieve a goal, he becomes frustrated.
Wow, writing this post has really made me feel better about things! I really like Erik Erikson's theories. I know that there are some people that criticise them, but I have always liked his theories. I actually used them in my theoretical perspectives paper in grad school. It's good to start looking at things again. I may need to start looking at more child development to help me feel better about my parenting skills and to help me remember that what my kids are doing is probably just normal developmental tasks that they need to achieve.
Amy
Potty training is probably the absolute worst developmemtal stage that I have gone through so far. I'm sure there will be worse, but in 3 1/2 years, this is the worst. The kids are definitely into going on the potty, but they are not quite ready to go without us telling them to go on the potty every so often, like every 1/2 hour or so. Sometimes, we have great days and there are absolutely no accidents the whole day. Sometimes, it seems like all we do is clean up pee and poop. I is finally seeming like Michael is getting it. He will go into the bathroom and either sit on a potty or pee in the toilet. He has even pooped twice on the potty after bringing himself to the bathroom with no prompts from us as parents. His biggest issue is that he loves to pee in any container he can find. This is one thing I am working really hard to try to break. I love his aim, but he needs to learn that there are places to pee and places not to pee. The twins are good about going when we bring them, but no so good about telling they have to go. Though, I have to say, Eva Rose woke up twice last night and after going on the potty went right back to sleep. I think we will just keep on moving forward and hope that they will get it soon.
Lastly, not only are we dealing with the terrible two's times two, but a three year old also. The behaviors and the whining are absolutely driving me mad. I can handle crying, but whining is not something I handle well. I am also not digging the defiant behavior of Thomas. My sweet little boy has all of a sudden started saying no when I ask him to do something. I guess he is just asserting his independence and I just have to remember my favorite developmental theorist, Erik Erikson states that people have different conflicts in life that they need to resolve in order to move on to the next stage of development. My kids are in the autonomy vs doubt stage, at least the twins are. They need to figure out how to have a sense that they are able to have some control over their environment. I guess, I need to figure out how to maintain some independence without giving them free reign. Michael, on the other hand, should be moving into initiative vs guilt. This almost seems like a continuation of more advanced independence and that is exactly where Michael seems to be. As I re-read some of the negatives, I think this may be what we are seeing with Michael's frustrations. He is learning to master different tasks and be much more independent and when he is unable to achieve a goal, he becomes frustrated.
Wow, writing this post has really made me feel better about things! I really like Erik Erikson's theories. I know that there are some people that criticise them, but I have always liked his theories. I actually used them in my theoretical perspectives paper in grad school. It's good to start looking at things again. I may need to start looking at more child development to help me feel better about my parenting skills and to help me remember that what my kids are doing is probably just normal developmental tasks that they need to achieve.
Amy
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