Back at the Top!

Life is full of mountains, sometimes we're at the bottom looking up and sometimes we're at the top looking down while admiring our victories.....today we're at the top!! And I'm gonna celebrate!

Zoya had her best day ever at school last week! She sat in her chair for snack AND she sat for circle time on the carpet and wanted to help with calendar! Her teacher told her that this week she can be the calendar helper.  She also asked her teacher to take her potty when the teacher had forgotten to take her! They go potty at 10:00 and then again at noon I believe. Zoya gets taken one time in between there usually. Her teacher told me that she had forgotten to take her and at about 11:15 Zoya signed "potty" to her :) No tears at all...the drop off was great for the most part...she was a little clingy but separated much better than in the past. And Zoya didn't want to leave when I came to pick her up.....she was so excited to see me and looked surprised when she looked up and I was standing at the door....she ran over to hug me and then went back to play. I had to bribe her with Elmo (which she earned anyways for a good day) to get her to leave!

Potty Training.....well Zoya seems to be potty trained...I am scared to type that though. For 3 weeks she has been dry! The past couple of days she has been in big girl underwear and stayed dry! We went for our first car ride without a pull up and she passed the test! She is able to hold it much longer in between and asks us to take her potty frequently throughout the day!  She stayed dry for our two hour drive to visit family and the two hour drive back! Yesterday she even did #2 on the potty!!! She ran in while I was going potty and sat Elmo down on the seat next to me and said "poop." I said "HUH?" And she said MEEEE. I put her on and what do ya know.....big girl went!! Shawn came running down the stairs when he heard me screaming LOL. We had a Poop Party! I'm not holding my breath that this will happen again anytime soon, but a mama can dream right??

And speech....wow she is talking so much more. This therapy in Buffalo is really helping her. She has been saying "me do" and "me go" about a million times a day. Today I worked a lot with her on saying "I do" instead and she's got it down! She also said "I want more" (sounds like I wwaaahhh moooore-think New Jersey accent) to ask for more "makeup." When I put my makeup on in the morning, Zoya always asks for some and I run the brush over her nose...she loves it. So today when she said that I almost fell over! I said, "You want more???" And she smiled real big and said "YAH." I'm so proud of how hard she is trying. We've worked a lot on the word "up." Zoya says "uppa" because she always drops her jaw at the end. The PROMPT therapist showed me how to hold her jaw closed at the end of "up" and Zoya is now prompting herself to do it! It is pretty cute. We still have a LONG way to go but I'm excited to see such noticeable progress for the first time.

Zoya has really been changing before our eyes...I wonder if that has anything to do with the recent increased difficulty sleeping and separating....just so many changes going on in her little self! At any rate, I'm celebrating the view from the top of the mountain and enjoying it even more knowing I'll have days where I'll be at the bottom needing to remember how great it feels to climb back up to the top!

Pictures coming soon, I promise :)