It Is Finished...

So you would think that on this Holy Good Friday, the above title would be in reference to our Lord's death, but no....



Lora is fully potty trained!!! Yeah! I am so excited, she's doing so well and has not had one accident for a week....she even seems almost ready to wear panties for bed too, she's been dry every morning. So, I am really excited to have that task overwith and happy that even though I waited for awhile... she's done.



Not trying to be sacreligious or anything, just excited about the progress!

A First...

So, with the downfall of Elliot Spitzer, the govenor of New York, who recently got caught in the prostitution scandel...there is a first in that state - actually two firsts. His lieutenant governor - so now the new governor of New York is the first black governor that state has ever had, which is a great thing. More interesting to me, however, is that he is also the first Legally Blind governor, I think ever in the US. I can't find that stat for sure, but I think he's the first.

An infection as a young child left him totally blind in his left eye and almost completely blind in his right. Which is basically the amount of sight that Lora seems to have only in the opposite eyes. I just find it inspiring to see someone with his challenges not only become the first blind Lieutenant Governor...but now governor of New York. I read an article about him talking about his ability to make speeches that contain numerous historical facts, statistics and details - without being able to read a tele-promptor. Very cool for someone with a blind child to see the success of other people with vision issues. Sadly, I hadn't heard about him before this recent scandel, but I'm glad that has brought him to my attention. I plan on following his progress as he takes over the governing of New York....

Princess Party

I promised that I would write a more glowing post about Lora and her birthday...here's a from her Princess party (I tried to load more, but Blogger was having problems). It was a lot of fun, she was darling...as always and had a great time with all of her "adult" friends. I asked her over and over if she wanted to invite her friends from school to which she always answered "no"...I consulted her teachers to find out if I needed to push her to invite her friends since social seems to be the only area that she's a little behind developmentally and they all told me to just count my blessings. So I asked her again the other day if she was SURE she didn't want any of her school friends to come to her party and she said "Okay, you can invite some of my friends, but only my invisible friends". So that is the reason there were only adults and older kids at her party, but she loved it....

Last week, Mark preached about Jesus healing the blind man in John 9. There was a readers theatre version of the passage shared and the opening went something like this (as I remember it)..."Jesus was asked by his disciples 'whose fault is it that this man was born blind, was it his sin or the sin of his parents' and Jesus answered 'it is no one's sin that caused this to happen, but through this, God's glory will be shown in this man's life'"...I had trouble the whole morning keeping my composure - in fact, I was supposed to sing a song that was all about the blind man being healed, etc...I say "supposed to sing" because I really hardly made it through the song...I cried all through Mark's sermon. I tried to analyze the reason for my tears and I really don't think, at this point, that it is sadness that hits me every once in awhile. Its emotion that isn't always happiness or joy at her situation - maybe just being overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed by how well she's doing...at the person that she is already becoming, in spite of the challenges that she's been handed...I'm overwhelmed by the way that God's glory is already being shown in her life, in spite of her issues...She is a joy, no matter how strong-willed she is, she is brilliant, she is funny, she is beautiful and as she told us not long ago - I think she sees exactly what she is supposed to see....

Happy Birthday....to the most stubborn little girl in the world...

Yes, today is Lora's 4th birthday...normally, on my kid's birthdays, I blog in some sentimental way about the day they were born, how my life changed forever the moment I looked into their eyes...which is true. But, today I am thinking more about Lora's stubornness.

Through no fault of her own, Lora is not potty trained yet. Yes, I know, she is four today and not potty trained. Honestly, I've been avoiding it, not because of some deep seeded need to keep her a baby...simply because I've tried a couple of times and she simply refuses to potty on the potty and I do believe she is the most stubborn child I have ever met. So, throughout the last year I've tried a couple of times and lost heart thinking maybe she's just not ready, maybe we've finally found the area in which she is developmentally behind....Anyway, a couple of days ago, Mark and I just decided that its time and that during the day, she will not wear pull-ups. The crazy thing is that outside of our home, she has had no accidents. She made it through two days of school completely dry but, at home, its a different story. She peed one time on the potty yesterday and had one accident. Then, this morning, she woke up dry...I put her on the potty - nothing...we started pumping liquids into her and I sat in the bathroom with her for a total of 3.2 hours (give or take a little) and NOTHING. We had begging, we had tears (from me and her), we had bargaining, we had threatening, we had tag teaming between both Mark and I because I needed a break...and no pottying on the potty...but lots of peeing in her pants...its been the most frustrating day...she simply doesn't want to potty on the potty so she won't....I don't think she can spend the rest of her life on the toilet, but I'm determined to make her sit there until she's done it. I am going to win this battle - I really didn't think there was another human being more strong willed than me, but I've met her. She's drinking a can of Diet Coke right now, so its only a matter of time until we're back in the bathroom fighting it out...

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of her in her Belle dress at her princess party....I'll talk about the day she was born in loving sentances, describing how much I love her - because I do...but today, she's driving me crazy....Even if she did just crack me up, watching Barbie Mariposa when she said, about the fairy prince, "I could really fall in love with that guy if I was a butterfly fairy."