PT-squared

PT has been a useful acronym for Jovie thusfar.  For the past year+ it has stood for Physical Therapy.  Recently, i have been using it for shorthand to discuss her Potty Training.

Let’s talk about both.

As for PT (physical therapy)… ummm i really can’t believe how much i didn’t write about it.  i looked at my “therapy” archives, and it is quite lacking.  it’s been about a year since i updated on her progress there, and we’ve even seen the orthopedist since then.

i guess when it just came down to it, i wrote about other things that were going on.  and i know some days i wanted to write about her therapies, but there was kinda no way to write about it without it being some kind of book report.

between PT and OT (occupational) there was a period of time last summer we were going to therapy twice a week.  then for a long time, we went to one each week.  then we went 2ce a month.

we have now been dismissed from PT.  it was exactly a year after she began therapy.  from her initial evaluation, here are results of her growth:

skill	March 2010- 20 months	May 2011- 2 yrs, 10 mos  (34mos)
Stationary  (ie: leaning, reaching, bending)	11 mos 16%ile	42 mos 75%ile
Locomotion  (ie: walking, running, climbing stairs)	16 mos  5%ile	32mos 37%ile
Object Manipulation (ie: throwing, kicking, catching balls)	17mos16%ile	25mos16%ile
Overall Gross Motor Percentile	5%ile	47%ile

So, you see, it was pretty dismal to begin with.  The locomotion is understandable, as she was walking only a month by this point of the initial eval (in which the therapist- not the one we used- didn’t really even try to warm up to her to begin with!)

After going to therapy for one year, she gained 2 1/2 years in stationary, 16 mos in locomotion, and 8 mos in object manipulation

We see no real gains in the object manipulation.  but truly?  it’s because she could CARE LESS about a ball.

we still go to OT, weekly (schedule permitting) but we have changed ‘formats’ (for lack of better term)

i know we haven’t even discussed OT yet.  i should do a post on that, too.    soon….

now for the other PT progress:

in less than a week, she was potty trained…..          did you hear that?   i mean…  WOW.  she’s so friggin’ grown up!  definitely a big girl  now!

so, the long of it is that in early march, she decided (not me) that she wanted to sit on the potty.  she has sat on it a few times at school. nothing ever came of it, but all the cool kids were doing it; so there ya go.

sometime in april we bought some big girl undies.  (ummm do you know how difficult it is to find some w/o characters on them??) and she was proud.  so a few times, she decided to wear panties.  it all was short lived.  after she went potty once, it kinda freaked her out.  (we didn’t use a child-potty, so it was kinda loud)

each time it was her own initiating.  always back in diapers.

until i bought *the!LAST!pack*.  i hid many, but she saw it dwindle down.  and wouldn’t you know- “coincidentally” after school ended and we had OT last thursday, we wore the LAST diaper to rest time.  so she hasn’t worn a diaper since Thurs @ 3.  and she hasn’t had an accident since Monday!!

it was hard.  we had battles and tantrums.  a few “i don’t wannnnoooo….. this isn’t funnnn anymoooorrrrr—-WAIT i’m going potty mommy!!!”  and of course a few accidents.  i did get lucky that most accidents were contained on the tile floor.

but i also know that we came out rather lucky in the potty department. i know i dreaded it and feared it to be worse (take longer)…  by no means do i think we are completely in the clear, but i do think she will most likely tell me and stop what she’s doing in order to take care of things herself.  she’s demonstrated that now for a few days.

i know we’ll have a few accidents along the way- but WOW am i proud of my big little girl!  Especially because we went against the grain.  She sat on a potty seat, not a potty chair in the living room.  She got no m&m’s, skittles, stamps or stickers.  just a lot of praise and pats on the back.  i think that actually helped her to feel proud of herself as well.  she does it all mostly independently.  i go in just when she calls for me at the end to help her get things squared away- but she does so much by herself, i’m pretty impressed.

here’s a picture of her in March at the beginning of it all…    tacky, i know. not sure what’s tackier- posting a potty pic of my gal or the tacky wallpaper.*  i thought the pic was tasteful enough, though.  if you don’t want to see- please close your browser window

——–NOW—–

(you wouldn’t believe how many stupid pervs have searched this blog for that picture -which was soooo innocent- that i just had to remove)

*if you’re still here, hi!  and, if you know of anyone willing to come take this crap off our walls today, we’d gladly pay you on tuesday!

**(it occured to me that most of jovie’s audience [and jovie herself] [and prob’ly The Mr] may not have gotten the Wimpy-of-Popeye-fame reference. )  but really, i would consider paying someone dearly for this project.