Third Day in Paradise

No, I don't mean that today, having been the third day since Maya started preschool that life at home is "paradise" - although it is considerably easier to cope with one 17-month-old than it is to do that and keep track of where a little speed-demon, almost four-year-old is all the time and what she's into wherever she might be within the confines of the house.

The "paradise" is actually what Maya must be experiencing as she is very excited about getting up in the morning, getting all dressed up, her hair combed so pretty and then, waiting patiently for Mr. Fred to arrive to take her in the minivan -along with another little boy about her age - over to the school

Maya does not come and tell us anything that takes place during her school time. She will, occasionally, be able to answer a question now and then. Some things we've figured out too based on some of her actions or reactions to things. One thing we knew the staff at the preschool would be working on with her and the others though is the potty training issue and last night, when I was changing her, I asked her if she'd like to sit on the potty chair and her response to me was that she began to count, counted up to ten and then she laughed and called out fairly loudly -"Yea!" So, when I told Mandy about that we figured that when the staff takes the kids to the bathroom, once they get each child, in turn, seated, they make the child count (slowly) to ten and upon completion of that much being "on task" they clap and say "Yea."

I've tried to entice Maya in the past from time to time to sit on the potty and we'll count - which is something she generally likes very much to do (counting, that is) - but apparently those quality moments with Gram don't measure up in her book as she wouldn't sit still and count for me.

Today, Mandy had occasion to talk to Pam, Maya's teacher and she found out a few things that Maya is doing in school. The teacher said Maya is the only one thus far in their group of seven pre-schoolers who already knows the names of each of her classmates and she can say most of their names well enough too that the staff can understand her. She's been saying something here to us that we couldn't figure out - it sounded like "Kuzzie" -and Mandy learned that's what Maya called one little girl in her class whose nickname is "Kenzie." So we got that mystery word cleared up now here.

Her teacher said she's been doing very well with the counting, the alphabet and general introductory things, all of which comes as no surprise to us because she's known the alphabet to recite and identify for over 14 months now and the same goes for numbers - she's been able to identify all numbers (0 thru 9) and variations of them or combinations I should say which enables her to count to well over 100. Actually, she is usually very fascinated by numbers too with one of her favorite things to do being to take a walk along our street and go to "see the 25." The "25" being a speed limit sign along our street which she loves to go and look at. Go figure how that is so exciting but in her world, it rocks!

The teacher also told Mandy a little story of what happened with Maya yesterday. She has a certain stance she gets when she is trying to have a bowel movement - kind of leans forward, hunches over a bit - and the staff had seen that last Thursday when we were all over there visiting the school, getting acquainted with the teacher, aides and the classroom settings, etc.

Yesterday, it seems one of the aides noticed Maya was going into that particular stance so she grabbed her and rushed her down the hall to the bathroom. She got her there before anything had actually happened and managed to get her to sit on the potty there. Luck was fully with her too as Maya managed to do her business in the potty - a first for her in this respect.

When she was finished, all wiped and clean, the aide told her they would then flush the commode and for Maya to turn around and push the handle to flush it. In doing that, she glanced down into the water and saw the "fruits of her labors" there and immediately started to scream and cry as her initial reaction then was one of fear. Maybe that's why although she would on occasion sit on the potty here, she would never do anything nor would she come and alert us before hand either although she would come to us when she was done and request "dry pants."

Again, it's one of those little things - quirky things - that we learn more about every day in working with and teaching Maya the ways to grow up and be a big girl.

At least it does give us something positive to look forward too ya know!