Celebrating Francis's transition to a big bed

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed

Because Francis began to climb on the changer attached to the crib, we got concerned he could get hurt. Therefore, it became a safety issue more than he truly being ready to sleep in a big boy bed. I honestly think it would be great if he could stay longer in the crib, but his safety is first. Both of my kids escaped from the crib at their 18-month. This make me proud of tommy because he was struggling with gross motor, but he jumped out of the crib. There is not a specific age for a child be ready for this big transition; according to the experts in child development, it ranges from 1 1/2 to 3 1/2  years old.

Our crib is a 3-in-1 convertible crib and it has been a key to be successful in this big transition in my kids life. Tommy didn't struggle at all, every stage was an exciting experience for him. Because the transition is done by stages rather than straight to a big bed.  The first stage is replace the big rail for a small rail. I did it yesterday evening because the mattress was already placed in the last level and Francis climbed to the changer at nap time. When Tommy and Francis saw me changing the rail, the both knew the meaning. Tommy started to say:"bed" following by Francis. It was so excited seeing them celebrating. They got on the bed and began to pretend they were sleeping. And of course, they began to jump. I was a big moment to see them celebrating together.

Once the crib was transformed to a toddler bed, we went down stairs to get dinner ready. Francis was so excited that he came to me several times saying: "Mama, Mama bed." When I told him it wasn't bed time, you can see his reaction on the picture below.

Finally, it was bed time. I let the boys play around in Francis room. They truly had fun in this transition.

  

 Everything was fun until I laid Francis down and tuned the light off.  Francis got scared of the change and he didn't want to lay down on the crib. So I gave him a little more time to stay awake and explore around so he was tiered more than usual. Before putitng him down I rocked him and he was tiered enough to stay in bed. I waited until my husband came home, and then, I checked on him. He was sleeping on the floor. I put him on the toddler bed. He slept thru the night fine in bed and didn't fall off.

First time sleeping without the big rail.

The boy made it! 

He slept through the night without falling off.

This picture was taken a few minutes after he waked up.

Today at nap time, he did great. He fussed a little, but he went to sleep for two hours without getting out of the bed.

Waking up from his first nap without the big rail.

 It is too early to say it is a successful transition, but I am happy with how it has been so far. 

Here is the picture from his second night.

When I was about to fix him, he switched his position 

and got into the middle of the bed.

Francis is not a baby anymore!

One Little Monkey doesn't fall out of his bed

Expecting the arrival of Tommy’s baby brother made us think of moving Tommy from his convertible crib to a bed without a rail. I knew Tommy was ready to sleep without the rail because I forgot to put the rail at night a couple of times and he didn't fall out.  With the new baby, we also needed to set Tommy's crib again for the baby.

September 12, 2010

Tommy's transition from a crib to a toddler bed was an smooth process that we started last year when he was 2 1/2 by transforming his crib into a toddler bed –Tommy's crib is is  a 3-in-1, this means it is a crib, a toddler bed and a full bed. I think having a convertible crib made the transitioning easy for Tommy because it helped him to develop spatial awareness in relation with the space available  for his body in the bed. When we decided it was time for Tommy sleeping without the rail, we also decide to create a whole new room for him, which is more appeling for a preschooler. So we bought new furniture for his room, including a new bed. But at the time to chose a bed for Tommy, we chose a toddler bed because it will be the same size of his crib so he dind't have to adjust to a new size bed and it is lower than a regular bed so if the little monkey fall out, he won't bump his head. Tommy's crib was a gift from my mom to Tommy, her first grandchild, so we are planing to transform Tommy's convertible crib in a full bed when Tommy needs a bigger bed and the baby grows out of the crib. This is other reason we didn't bought a bigger bed for Tommy. 

Making the decision if Tommy was ready to sleep without the rail made me think how kids learn not to fall out of bed. I realized it has to be with their relationship with space controlled by the Proprioceptive system, which alerts the body about its location within its physical environment so the body develops spatial awareness that comes naturally to most children while they explore their surroundings as they get mobile by learning to crawl, walk, run, climb; but it is not always the case for kids with a genetic disorder. Even although the spatial awaresness hapends natural in a child development, there are ways to help our kids to develop spatial awareness, specially if they have developmental delays.

• To develop body map by encouraging the child when begins to be mobile to climb under tables or go through tunnels, into cardboard boxes, and any fun place to hide. We bought for Tommy's birthday a play station with has different size tunels connected and he also got a little tend.
• To discuss locations by talking about where the bedroom is, where the bathroom is, where the kitchen is, where his or her toys are and so on.
• To mention which objects are closer and which objects are farther from a child’s current location to give them the idea of distance between them and the objects.
• To teach positional words, which is also a way to work on language development. Examples of positional words (prepositions): up, down, behind, in front, around. A good reference to teach positional words is available in http://downsyndromecentre.ie/advisorypanel/2010/jun/21/teaching-prepositions-positional-words-real-life-c/
• To give directions using "right" and "left". I am reading the Book From Head to Toe by Eric Carle and emphasis body movements to the right or left. I am also learning with Tommy the Hockey Pocky song to practice right and left. 

Even although, Tommy didn't have trouble transitioning to a bed without a protective rail, I am working on promoting spatial awareness because it will help him to be more aware of his surroundings at home, school, playgrounds and so on.  

My Little Monkey doesn't fall out of his bed
He gets all around the bed, 
but doesn't get beyond the edges. 
I have been checking on him at different time
at night since the first day he slept on his new bed.

 July 11, 10:36 PM

July 12, 1:48 AM

July 15, 1:48 AM

July 17, 9:13 PM

July 20 1:03 AM

July 20, 8:56 PM

July 21, 10:23 PM

July 31, 10:27 PM

My little monkey

My little monkey is learning to pill a banana by himself. We usually pill the banana for him and cut it in little pieces he can eat with the fork, but I thought it is about time he can learn to pill the banana by himself. I cut the end and I pill the banana just at the beginning and I give it to him. He finishes pilling the banana, but I check he takes all the skin off because sometimes he leaves one side of the banana with the skin. This is an easy way to put the hand fine muscles to work and gain independence while having fun. I laugh a lot looking at my little monkey learning to pill a banana. Enjoy the photos of my little monkey eating banana.

My independent boy! (Part 2)

On November 7, 2010,  I saw Tommy for the first time taking the the fork to serve his food in his cup. He put the ham and pieces of bread in the cup and pretend to mix them. This made me think he was trying to serve his own breakfast. But with all the craziness of him being sick in the last couple of months, I completely forgot about it. 

Photo taken on November 7, 2010

After he came from the hospital and went back to his normal routine he decided to eat cereal again –he used to eat cereal when he was younger, but one day he decided he didn't want it anymore. One day during breakfast, we were ready to eat and he didn't want the Earth's Best Organic cereal I served him. Instead he wanted to eat my cereal. So I gave him a big bowl and helped him to serve the Honey Cheerio cereal and pour the milk.  He ate one bowl of cereal and more! It was clear to me he wanted to do it just like mommy and daddy, which made me realized it was time to transfered tommy's pouring skills from the bathtub to the kitchen table.

A couple of weeks ago, I made some accommodations so he can serve his cereal with help.  He uses a little measure cup to serve his cereal and I got a little transparent measure cup he can use as a pitcher to pour the milk on his cereal. Sometimes, our improvise pitcher works as a cup for him, too. He still has spellings, but we have a lot of fun. If I wouldn't be observant I wouldn't realize when Tommy wants to experience things on his own because he struggles with his expressive communication. But regardless his challenges, nothing stops his independient personality and nothing stops me to try to understand him beyond his language delay.

By the way, Tommy is wearing two t-shirts in the video

because he put the green shirt on top of the other by himself.

I didn't want to discourage him after his initiative, so he worn the green shirt until nap time.

I have search for a small pitcher for young children and I have 

found a small glass pitcher for toddlers, but the glass make me nervous. 

Do you know where I can find a pitcher for 

preschoolers that it is plastic and not glass?

The video was taken on Saturday 19th, 2011

Related Articles:
My independent Boy

Pouring -Pre-writing skill (Part 1)

Pouring -Pre-writing skill (Part 2)

My independent boy!

Promoting self-care skills it is important to foster independency in young children, which is I try to do with my son, specially, because he has always showed interest in do things on his own and it is also a natural way to strength his joins and eye-hand coordination due to he has hypotonia (low muscle tone).

Tommy attempted to put his shoes on since last September. Many things have been going on that I haven't dedicated too much time to help him in learning how to put his shoes on. Once in a while, we have seen him putting daddy's shoes on or putting any object could fit on his feet. Yesterday morning, I got so excited because Tommy put one shoes on by himself for the first time. What excited moment! When I realized this I took the shoe off and I gave it to him again and he did it again, but this time I had my camera ready. We went out yesterday evening and before we left I gave him one shoes and he put it on again. So now is just matter on time that he can learn what shoes is for the right and left foot. I don't know what age is appropriate for young children to put their shoes on, what I know is Tommy achieved this milestone on his own. We are very proud of him!

His diagnosis is not limiting him to achieve his full potential.

Potty training is going well...

...Grande! This is the text message I got from my husband around 9:50 am with a very graphic picture proving that Tommy went potty.

My husband was amazed that our son did as big as an adult. He also called me to the office to tell me about it and he almost forgot to tell me the most important event until I started questioning him about Tommy going potty. My husband said that Tommy didn't want to stay on the chair and he was playing around. Suddenly, Tommy went back to the potty chair, sat on it and went potty. Yahoo! I think Tommy remembered what I always tell him "pee and pooh go in the potty or in the toilet." I have told him if he feels the need to go he has to sit on the potty. He did what I have been telling him; even although, I wasn't there. This make feel so good because I haven't been very consistent with the potty training, but some how it is working.

This is the picture I got in my iPhone

from my lovely husband.

I edited to show how big it was

and make it more attractive to our viewers.

"Someone discovered the toilet paper roll"

Text message from daddy to mommy

This event made our day,

this our normal as a family.

Always together not matter what!

Hip-Hip Hooray! Toilet Learning is Fun! (Part 2)

Three weeks have passed since Tommy started toilet learning. This a long process and so far we are having so much fun, which is what it is making this process a pleasant experience without frustration. I have heard that this process can take about 8 months to master for some typical developmental kids. How long will the process take for us? We don't know, but the most important is that along the process our son learns to read his biological needs.

Successful stories during our potty learning process

We had a family reunion on Friday, October 8th and we came back home late. When I was helping Tommy get ready to go to bed, I noticed his pull-up was dry and it was around 9:00 p.m. He usually has a pee around 7:00 p.m., so I immediately took him to the bathroom and sat him on his potty chair, not even 2 minutes passed when he had a pee. It was an exciting moment because it was obvious he was holding in the urine. So from now own, I will keep our travel potty seat in the bag because I don't want that 'holding in urine or bowel movements' become an issue.

Last night, Tommy did let me know he wanted to go potty. It has been one of the most exciting moments of my life, ha, ha, ha, ha. It was 6:50 p.m. when I was chatting with my mom in Panama. Suddenly, I saw Tommy signing "potty." I was skeptical, but I took him to the bathroom and he had a pee right after he sat on the potty. He had a big smile when he saw my excitement.

Today, he signed potty when we were leaving a local pharmacy. I didn't know where to find a bathroom, so I rough to the house. He didn't go. Well, we went to the dinning room to eat our lunch and he went after lunch. I learned a lesson, we need a travel potty chair to keep in my car because there are not bathrooms everywhere. We have a small portable potty seat that fit in my bag. I use it when I go to the mall and I just put it on the toilet, but if I have a situation again where I don't find a bathroom, a travel potty chair is the best solution.

Turning potty learning in a positive experience

Tommy has learned a new sign 'potty', which allow the communication between us during the potty learning process. He verbally says 'poo' and 'pee,' which he learned when we started potty learning three weeks ago. He thinks go potty is fun because when I ask him to say pee he says it and immediately he claps with a happy face. My son is also learning to pull up and down his underpants. He is transferring this to actually put his pants on. He has been able to put on leg of his pants on all by himself. We play pretend play during potty time. Tommy seat his boy-doll to 'go potty' when he is on potty time. We wipes the boy-dolls bottom when he is done, so this helps Tommy to get ready for a future step in our potty learning process. When he has a great potty time, he puts stickers on his reward sticker book all by himself. Our process of potty learning is more than helping my son to understand his body because it involves expressive communication, language development, self-care skills, fine motor skills, cognition and auditory discrimination between English and Spanish.

Keeping potty learning fun

• Pretend play. I am planning to get new cloth for our boy-doll, so Tommy can practice dressing and undressing the doll.
• Sign a potty song. I am searching for cute potty training songs that I can sing to Tommy during potty time.
• Decorate Tommy's potty chair. Tommy will decorate his potty chair with his assistant (mommy). The theme for the decoration is 'Potty Kingdom' where Tommy is the king.
• Increase our potty learning library. I have seen new books that seems interesting. I will get books with real picture because Tommy is more interested in this type of potty training books.

Enjoy the video of Tommy signing 'Potty'

TIP: A great resource for parents is the

Pull-Ups® Big Kid Central® DVD.

It has good information on how make potty training

a pleasant experience for parents and kids.

The best of all you can order it for FREE.

Toilet Learning is Fun!

Tommy has shown physical readiness for toilet learning since the beginning of the year. By that time, I was excited with the idea of toilet learning and I assisted to a toilet learning class sponsored by Parents as teachers last March. The class was very instructive and it made me realize we should hold off on toilet learning because Tommy wasn't walking yet, even although he had some physical readiness to start. About two months ago, our OT suggested to start potty training and I decided to give it a try because I knew Tommy has the physical readiness necessary to initiate the toilet learning process.

We took Tommy with us to purchase the potty chair. In our search for a potty chair, We found Elmo Potty Chair —3-in-1 chair, seat and stool. This potty chair offers ten encouraging phrases in English, Spanish and Frensh and it comes with A Sesame Street Mini-Book and 20 colorful stickers. I use those features to encourage language development and fine motor skills. I mimic Elmo's voice and repeat the phrases, which it is funny for Tommy, so he can see the motion of my lips and tongue and he put the stickers all by himself on the book practicing pincer grasp and wrist rotation. We also got some potty learning books because Tommy is a book lover. These activities make potty learning fun! Learning to use the potty should be a positive experience for kids and parents.

I was insecure of my parenting skills about how to initiate toilet learning with Tommy. So, I talked to our DT and she suggested do it as a routine in the morning and evening. So far, so good! He is enjoying potty time in the morning and the evening because he likes his chair. He keeps giving Elmo a high five every time he is on the chair, and after he is done, I allow him to down the flush handle. Because He is becoming verbal, I am also encouraging him to say pee and poop when he goes, he repeats them after me and smile. He also takes the toilet paper, I guess because daddy is his role model. I let him to try to roll the paper, but I will take this step without any hurry.

Toilet learning is different from toilet training because toilet training is a process that the adult direct to a child; toilet learning is when the child is involve in their own learning while having fun. Toilet learning starts with readiness signs that tell if the child is ready to use the toilet. Learning will happen when parents teach in a way that does not punish. The child should learn to listen to their bodies, to take their own clothes off with a little help, and to feel good about learning "go potty." The toilet learning goal is that the child feels proud of what he or she has done, which plays an important role in the child’s self esteem, so genuine and enthusiastic verbal praises are important. During toilet learning, there are only lessons and not accidents, the child learns from it.

Getting ready

• Begin to introduce the concepts wet, dry, clean, duty before starting potty training.
• Encourage your child get familiar with the potty chair before. We let Tommy to seat on chair a few times before he actually used it. I am also planing to pretend play "go potty" with his stuffed animals and his boy-doll that has a little potty chair.
• Teach the child to wash his hands before the toilet learning process.

• Read potty training books 6 weeks or so before starting the toilet learning process.

Signs of readiness

According to the book "The Wonder Years":

Between 18 month to two years, children often start to show signs of readiness, but some children may not be ready until two and half years or older.

Is my child ready?

There are a number of signs that will alert you to when your child may be ready to start using the potty. Some your will notice, others will be brought to your attention!

What you will notice:

• Your child's bowel movements occur on a fairly regular and predictable schedule.

• His diaper is not always wet. Young toddlers urinate often. If diapers remain dry for a couple of hours at a time it suggests that the frequency of urination is slowing.

• Your child is able to follow simple instructions, walk to the bathroom (or potty), and can help undress himself.

What your child may do:

• Get upset when he has dirty diaper.

• Show signs that he knows that he is about to go in his diaper, such as hiding behind the couch or squatting in a corner.

• Come to tell you or give a sign when he has passed urine or a bowel movement.

• Go and get the potty.

• Sit on the potty —possible with his diaper on.

• Follow your into the toilet to see what happens.

When you have a child with Trisomy 21 is really hard to know when the child is ready. In our son's case it has been the physical readiness the main indicator that he is ready. But I also think he is emotionally ready because he is having fun and patient while he seats on the potty. We are not sure if it has been good luck or if Tommy is actually understanding this concept, but he has used the potty chair since we started on Saturday night (October 2nd.) He has done both, #1 and #2, actually on Sunday was his #1 in the potty chair for the first time. He may be ready for learning "go potty" on his own, but we don't know how long it will take; however, we are so excited he has initiated toilet learning as a big boy.

Transition from a crib to a toddler bed

Some experts say that there is no reason to rush your child to move to a toddler bed and the use of the crib can be extended by lowering the mattress as low as it can go. Parents should think in the transitioning if the child climbs out of the bed or if the child is 35" tall. Most children make the switch between ages 1 1/2 and 3 1/2. But it's best to wait until the child is closer to his or her 3rd. birthday. But when you have a child with gross motor delays, as a parent, you really don't know when it is the right moment for the transitioning.

In my son's case, he got out of the crib when he was 18 month. My father in law lower the mattress to the lower level. Here was the first sign that my son may be read for a bed, but he wasn't physically ready because he was just starting to get mobile. Maybe his curious mind was ready to get out of the crib, but not his body to climb in and out of the bed. So it was not reason to rush it. Howsoever, I knew one day he would be ready. So I set it as a goal for when he was walking. Our PT,a few weeks ago, suggested to transit Tommy to a bed because he was physically ready for this new transition. The more he climbs the stronger his shoulders get, so this transition also is part of his physical therapy.

As a way to celebrate he is turning 2 1/2, we converted our son's crib to a toddler bed on Sunday 12th. He got too excited with the new change that he started to stand up and play on the bed, so I explained to him beds are for sleeping and one can sit or lay down on the bed, but beds are not for playing. I decided to slowly make the transitioning as follow:

FIRST WEEK:

• The first night, I was worried about him standing up on the bed while I was sleeping and he could hurt himself, so I make him to sleep in my arms and the next day my husband checked on him to get him out of the bed right away.
• The second night, I stay with him until he was very sleepy and I put him on the bed so he was tired enough to fall sleep in a short period of time. The next day I went to check on him before him got out his bed.
• The third night, I stay with him until I read his book, turn the light off, said our prayers, and bound for a little while as usual and I put him to bed. The next day I went to check on him before him got out his bed and encouraged him to get out of his bed.
• The fourth night, we did our regular routine before going to be, but this time I gave the opportunity to get on the crib by himself. He was laughing and stood up as soon he got on the crib. I gave him verbal cue"Remember the bed is for sleeping. You have to lay down" and I help him to lay down. So I praise him by telling him "Good Job laying down on the bed. You are a big boy now." He giggled and staid in the bed. The next day Daddy checked on him.
• The fifth night was the same routine than the night before. But this time he wasn't tired, but he staid on the bed and felt asleep. We checked on in the morning and encouraged him to get out of the bed by himself.
• The sixth and seventh nights, we did the same as the fifth night. The next day he got out of the bed by himself with supervision.

NAP TIME

Nap time has became a challenge because he silently gets out of the bed. While we are thinking, he is on the bed; he is looking at his books. He stays in the bed after we close the door. So I decided to establish a routine before putting him in the bed. I am very confident that the routine will help him to stay and take a nap because he is used to routines since he was a newborn. We are going to make sure he is physically active in the mornings to make him tired before nap time, so he will fall asleep right away. We also installed a shade to make his room darker. Hopefully, he will be taking his afternoon naps by next week. Any advise or suggestion to make him to stay in the bed during nap time is more than welcome!

SAFETY TIPS

Before the transitioning, make sure all the power outlets have covers, all furniture are attached to the wall and put locks on the closet doors and furniture drawers. Otherwise, a little tornado will twist the room. We already experienced it with "Tommy tornado."

To celebrate Tommy's transitioning, I will re-decorate his room. I will do something simple, but more appealing for a big bog.

Dulce sueños, mi lindo ángelito!

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"Le Chat Botté", "El Gato con Botas" or "Puss in Boots"

Tommy has been lately attempting to put his shoes on. The other day, he took one of his shoes and hid from us. He wanted to try his shoe on without us bothering him. I snicked in and I could see him attempting to put the shoe on until he was able to put it on one time. After several tries, he gave up and kept busy with other stuffs. This evening, my husband left his boots in the dinning room, Tommy was around and suddenly he became "Puss in Boots." He was able to puts daddy's boots on. We will follow his lead to help him to put his shoes on by himself. Our boy keeps exceeding our expectations!

"Puss in Boots"

Challanging Self-feeding skills with utensils

We are very proud that Tommy self-feeds with utensils because it is a big milestones for a toddler with low muscle tone. We continue challenging his fine muscles to get them stronger. The next step in self-feeding is eating with utensils more difficult food such as soup and spaghetti. I just gave it a try this morning and it was very fun to watch Tommy eating "Crema de Maíz" (corn cream), which is very popular in my country as breakfast. I just watched him eating and brought memories of my childhood with my sister. It was fun to watch him because he was a mess, but he ate all by himself with the spoon.

This post is specially for my mom who used to cook
"Crema de Maíz" for my sister and I all the time.
My sister and I were not fans of this dish.
But her grandson loves "Crema de Maíz."

Me la comí toda Ita.