A Princess and her Potty ... and a Presley Update.

A few years back,while in the midst of seizures,I commented to a friend,how nice it would be to have something just ordinary and typical to blog about in the future,like say, Zoey peeing and dare I venture to stick my neck out there,even pooping, on the potty.At the time I would have given anything for that.I remember the day like it was yesterday.Now,perhaps my girl,if she could tell me,might say that the modest side of her,would like me to leave such matters in private but you know,this topic represents so much more than the obvious.This represents a bridge between the heavy side of day to day,week to week and year to year medical crisis,to regular toddler stuff and boy is that worthy of talking about.It's been a long time coming.



Don't you love her princess potty?It even plays a jaunty royal tune when the deed has been done.Zoey does a little wiggle dance each time she hears it.So darn cute.We have been dabbling in potty training for about 6 weeks now.She is doing an amazing job and although I know we are years off from formally being potty trained,I think we are off to a great start.I am at a point where I really have the confidence that she is going to master this thing,because to be perfectly honest, at one point,I had my doubts.I am really trying to get her to where she is time trained and then hope one day she is able to convey to me her need to go.She does know the sign for potty though but has yet to use it purposefully to let me know.The bit of a stumbling block that we have, is Zoey's lack of mobility.Meaning,due to her stroke and not crawling, standing and no where near walking yet,she relies fully and completely on me to get her there.And when she is on the big potty with the seat attached,she has no way of balancing herself as not to fall.The little potty is easier for her to balance and she has begun to lean forward to me and try to pull herself up grabbing my arm with her good little hand.One might ask then,why even use the big one ... well,without going into some unnecessary graphic details ... we SO need the big potty!

So that's our adventures in pottyland at the moment.All in all,not bad.We even have our travel seat we put in the back of the car and she also has her own princess potty at school that she uses.Coming along my little love.Doing some ordinary things in a less than ordinary little life.

Another area of progress, is her signing .... Oh.My.Gosh.The girl is picking up so many signs that we just can't keep up with her.In the last few days she has added:stop,go,wait,special,and drink.Drink is my favorite because when she puts her little hand to her mouth like a cup,she moves her mouth like she is drinking and for those who know her story or maybe don't know her story,she doesn't eat or drink A THING by mouth, so how she came up with the mouth movement is beyond me!(If you want to watch the video,pause the blog music at the bottom.)




One of the top pictures is of her signing "sit",which she does sign when she wants to actually sit somewhere but it is also her way of telling us that she wants to be taken from one place to another place.So she will sign "sit" and we sign and say "where" and then she usually points us to the direction or person she wants to go to ... just imagine when this child finds her feet ... she will be on the go and heading everywhere!I just know it.


Please continue to pray for our butterfly Presley.Kele is not up to writing an update yet.Things are about the same,no significant change and Kele has some measure of disappointment in that.The hope is to slowly move Presley from the high frequency vent to a standard one in the next few days but they are taking it extremely slow.Presley has struggled with her blood pressure again,as well as her saturation levels so they continue to delicately balance the medication and the machines.Kele is asking that we keep our prayers focused on her sweet butterfly remaining infection free as not to deviate from the plan laid out for the upcoming days.The Giles family is beyond grateful for the outpouring of love and support and asks you to keep it coming in great abundance.