The Mommy Gig With Two Sick Kids

The sky is falling. And I'm not referring to snow.

Having two kids, who are fairly close in age, when they are both sick is not easy. I have snot on my shirt from both kids laying or crying over my shoulders. At least the Tylenol took care of Elizabeth's 102 degree fever.

Yesterday, Elizabeth coated me with vomit. It is not the best alternative to hair gel.
They seem to have an unspoken agreement to want to be held at the same exact time. The good news is that I don't need to pay for gym membership to work my arm muscles. When held, Matthew is ok with me sitting on the couch but Elizabeth wants me to be walking. Sigh.

On top of having cough and runny nose, Matthew is constipated. He had been regular up until he made pee potty progress and saying "wet." He was learning to hold it in. Unfortunately, he had also learned to hold in bowel movements. A glycerin suppository fixed that today but not without a lot of tears and struggling. I let him go in a pull-up since he was extremely opposed to sitting on the potty for it.

Naptime officially started 30 minutes early today. Even with both kids asleep, I still hear their cries in my head. So I turn on the iPod to help replace the crying echoes with some soothing jazz while blogging, planning my next set of flashcards for Matthew, and learning to bake sweet potato fries to keep my mind preoccupied. The house chores can wait another day as they usually do.

The mommy gig with two sick kids has certainly pushed me to tears. But I'm learning to deal, slowly but surely. It's a steep learning curve for me having had no siblings and babysitting experience.

The sky is falling. I may stress. I may have burnt my experimental baked sweet potatoes. I may sometimes think I'm not wired to be a mom. But at the end of the day, everything will be ok. Looking at both sick kids, I know that I still would rather be doing the mommy gig than anything else.

Potty Tracking System and Rewards

In addition to using the ListMaster iPhone app, I now also use the I Go Potty app by Huggies. It's a simple app that I use for potty reminders. I can set the time til the next potty and set regular potty interval reminders, like every 30 minutes for example. And I can also set reminders to be sent between specific hours during the day so I don't get a potty wake-up call in the middle of the night. Best of all, the app is FREE!

To address the timing issue we've been having, I'm using a Toilet Training Data collection sheet for the next 2 weeks to try to get a better idea of when we should take him to the potty depending on patterns he might have. The data collection sheet has 5 columns:
- Time
- Pants Check (W/D/BM)
- In Potty (N/P/BM)
- Self-Initiated (Y/N)
- Notes.

Another mom shared it with me (Thanks Jennifer!). I wish I had done this when we first started but better late than never, right?

Contact me if you would like a copy of this document. I can email it to you.

It probably seems like overkill to have 3 things to track his potty progress but it's what I feel needs to be done right now.

Rewards
The I Go Potty app has a star reward system that unlocks games after 9 stars (9 successful potty visits). But Matthew isn't interested in a cumulative reward system. An immediate reward makes more sense to him. So I really just use that app's 30 minute alarm and I'll show him the game once it is unlocked.

So what do I reward him with after using the potty? More drinks! I got the idea from one of the comments on my previous post "Potty Training." He likes juice so I give him a small cup of watered down apple juice if he's in the mood for it.

Food rarely works as a motivator or reward for Matthew unless it's juice, pears or oranges. But he has to be in the mood for food even with accepted, ultra-limited selection of favorite food. So we use toys or games as a reward too. His current favorite toys are Alphie the Robot, vReader, and preschool apps on our iPhones. We go with whatever works.

And most importantly, he loves the praise we give him for sitting on the potty for 2 to 5 minutes and for successfully peeing in the potty. We haven't tackled #2 in the potty just yet.


Related Posts:
Toy Review: Alphie the Learning Robot
Go Potty
Potty Progress: Saying "Wet"
Potty Training

Potty Progress: Saying "Wet"

By 2pm on a Saturday, Matthew had already sat on his potty chair 15 times. He'll be going more times after his 2-ish to 4-ish pm nap. I think we're making progress! I may be celebrating too soon and end up eating my words but a baby step is still progress and reason to celebrate in our home.

Of the 15 times that he was on the potty, he peed in it 4 times.

Of the 4 times that he peed in the potty, he had been dry and only went in the potty, not in his pants.

Here's the big deal: Of the 4 successful potty visits, at least 2 (if not 3) of the visits were self-initiated. He comes running to me and says "wet!" At times, he's already gone and saying "wet" have just been his reaction to being wet. Other times, he's dry or is only slightly wet and goes more as soon as we get him to the potty.

Tweaking Our Strategy
First of all, thank you for all the suggestions via facebook and comments on my previous post Potty Training. They made me think about how we could tweak our current strategy and gave me other ideas to try. A blogger friend, Ellen, also shares some important tips in her blog post When You Begin Potty Training Your Child with Down Syndrome.

So as far as potty time intervals, we were taking him to the potty every hour during Christmas break, which is when we shifted to high gear with potty training. Then in January, we tried taking him every 30 minutes with an alarm helping us keep track of the time.

First we had him in pull-ups only during the day and a diaper at naptime and bedtime. Then we tried underwear under his pull-ups to give him the sensation of being wet. That was 50% effective with him. Whenever we went to the potty with wet underwear, I'd let him touch the wet underwear and dry underwear to reinforce his understanding of wet and dry. In the 2 weeks that we tried the underwear under pull-ups, I think he knew he was wet when he went but didn't care and continued to play. He only communicated that he was wet two times in that 2 week period.

Then we got braver. Yesterday, I put him in underwear and shorts ONLY. No pull-ups. He soon found himself standing in the kitchen with wet shorts and pee running down his legs. He had an "uh-oh" look on his face when he looked me. We went to the potty, cleaned up, and put on dry underwear and pants. After that incident, he seemed to understand "being wet" better.

Today, he is in underwear and pants only. And in addition to taking him to the potty at our scheduled intervals, we also rush him to the potty as soon as he says "wet!"

At this point, it seems "wet" either means he already went and his pants are wet or he is on the verge of going. We don't think he necessarily understands the urge to go just yet. He'll get there eventually.


UPDATE:
# of times Matthew sat on the potty today = 22
# of times Matthew peed in the potty = 9
# of times Matthew said "wet" and came to get me and then went in the potty = 7

Related post:
Go Potty
Potty Training

Accelerating Scientific Research For Down Syndrome

As a mom of two, I am heavily invested in my children's futures. I want both of them to be independent, productive contributors to society.

As a mom of a child with Down syndrome, I want just as many opportunities available to Matthew in his future as there would naturally be for Elizabeth. I want Matthew to be accepted and respected. And I want Matthew to have greater options in life than he might have otherwise.

I am always interested in new scientific research about Down syndrome. Three groups that actively Down syndrome medical and cognitive research are:
- Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation (DSRTF)
- Global Down Syndrome Foundation
- Research Down Syndrome

The DSRTF has an ongoing campaign called plus15.

For every dollar donated to plus15 before midnight tonight, a donor will match 3 to 1. The plus15 campaign funds research at major research centers, including Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Stanford University, University of San Diego, and University of Arizona, into how to improve the memory, learning, and speech of people with Down syndrome by 15 percent.

Down Syndrome Achieves is another organization that is spearheading the drive for more Down syndrome research work and legislative action. Lisa at Living in the Light blogged about Down Syndrome Achieves in her entry "A New Era in Advocacy for Down Syndrome".

I listened to their eye-opening and very interesting web conference this evening. It was shocking (and very sad) to see the disparity in government funding for Down syndrome and other diagnoses. Basically, more funding for Down syndrome means a possible acceleration of scientific research and treatments to improve learning, cognition and communication. I'll share more details about it in a separate blog entry. Another web conference is scheduled on February 17, 2011.

It all sounds promising. I am hopeful. If the research translates to good options for improving learning, cognition, and communication, which in turn can lead to better opportunities and independence, then I am for it. Are you?

Toy Review Tuesday: Little People Sweet Sounds Home (Fisher Price)

It's a lot of fun for little people to play with Little People.

This was another great find at a consignment store! I paid $9 for the Fisher Price Little People Sweet Sounds Home, which originally sold for at least $35, and is now overpriced (my personal opinion) on amazon.com ($135) because it seems this particular model has been discontinued. Other Little People houses are available brand new for just under $40.



Each room in the house has an appliance or piece of furniture that makes a sound. Both of my kids like buttons that make sounds so this greatly appeals to them.

Despite its pink roof, I don't think this house is too girly for my little guy especially since I've been using it to help with language like reinforcing the meaning of a few basic prepositions.

Matthew and I enjoy making the Little People walk on the roof, answer the phone, or do laundry. We put them on the potty, in the bath, and in the bed. We say "hi" when someone enters the house and "bye" when they walk out the door. Sometimes Little People send emails while at the computer. I notice that he plays more with the house independently and appropriately after I have modeled certain scenarios for him. And being the little boy that he is, he also finds pleasure in simply throwing the Little People over the roof to see how far they go.

Elizabeth mouths the chairs and the Little People right now. Soon enough, she will be pretending right along with us.