Hi, My daughter has cp too and was hard to potty train as well. She finally got the motivation from watching her younger sister begin to wear big girl pants and get the praise for a good job. She also was never supposed to walk but seeing her baby sister walking put a burning desire to walk in her and she literally taught herself how too walk.(she would blow a gasket if we tried to help her)  She is 9 years old now and doesnt throw tantrums, but she knows that she is different from other kids. We tell her that she is special and that GOD has a plan for her life. Good luck and GOD bless you and your family and especially your little J.

funning6 <staci.essay@...> wrote:

Potty training was pure torture for us. I'd get her almost completely
trained and then her birth mother let her fall into the toilet and we
were back at square one. She's doing great now, despite the
occasional accident. All I did was make a chart and every time she
let me know she had to go and went on the potty, we put a gold star
on the chart. For each 5 gold stars she got to put on her chart she
got to pick a prize from the "prize box". What really helped was when
I started letting her pick the prizes to put into the box. Then she
knew exactly what she was working towards. Anything you can do to
make it rewarding (we have bribed with kittens, big girl panties,
money, whatever it takes) and that really seemed to do the trick.
J talks ok enough to get her point across even to people who don't
really understand her, so that hasn't been much of an issue. I read
about one lady who had a daughter with speech problems and she taught
her some basic hand signs from sign language. Would that help your
daughter?
And I do believe that God will help us and our families care for J. I
think I just find something new or different to worry about each day
to keep my mind occupied!
I can't believe you home school! That's amazing! I would never have
the patients for it. J reads at a 4 and 5 grade level and can do 2
and 3 grade math, so we felt that school would take her further than
we could. But I tip my hat to you for being able to teach your
daughter yourself.
We haven't put J into special olympics. She really isn't interested
in any other sport than NASCAR right now. She can actually name the
drivers and their car numbers. It's very cute to watch her get
excited when one of her favorite drivers is winning. I did try
getting some play dates for J with other handicapped children but she
said she's not comfortable with them. I think that comes from playing
with her 2 brothers and her sister all the time. Right now we just
try to keep her doing what makes her happy.
Does your daughter ever get frustrated or angry about having CP? J
has a really good temper tantrum about once a month. It's usually
directed at, but I consider myself lucky that she feels safe enough
to vent to me. But what do you tell a child like ours when they ask
why? I tell her it's because God has a plan for her, but she's
looking for more grown-up answers recently.
Another thing I'm starting to worry about is her period. From the
signs she's showing, it could be almost any time now. She'll freak if
she sees the blood even though we've explained it all to her. Do you
have any plans on preparing your daughter?
Thanks for writing. It really does help having others around who are
dealing with the same things as us.
Staci