[blparent] Tracking Toddler by Sound

Wed Sep 14 13:10:05 UTC 2011

Ah yes...  I remember well the adventure at Cuck E Cheese when I was about
six months pregnant with Oriana and Austin was three...  Or maybe a tad
younger.  Austin sounds a lot like your Penny; he is a climber, jumper, etc.
So I thought, as you did, that he'd get up on the equipment and get through
it with no problem.  No such luck!  He was actually scared and crying, which
made the decision to go up after him much easier, especially since some
really helpful kids were also trying to move him along with no luck.  So up
I went...  Through tons of really low tunnels etc. and finally down the
slide at the end.  Austin also requested to do it again, but I firmly said
"no!"  
	You don't sound over bearing to me at all; my husband and I climbed
on playground equipment with Austin most of the time, especially since he's
such a daring kid.  Oriana just started walking a couple of weeks ago, so
I'm sure her first "real" trip to the playground when she'll actually be
able to start climbing around and exploring is not far away...  As long as
the weather cooperates, and as long as she and Austin can kick whatever
virus they have been battling lately.
Melissa

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Bridgit Pollpeter
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 6:07 PM
To: blparent at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blparent] Tracking Toddler by Sound

If you place bells on their shoes before they start crawling and walking
about, they will grow accustomed to them being there, and will not be as
inclined to remove their shoes when older. Although watch out that they
don't plop a foot with a shoe on in their mouth so they don't swallow a
bell. If the bell is connected to any laces or attached at the top of
the shoe, they won't be able to get that much into their mouth, but a
little FYI. Nonetheless, I recommend using the bells on shoes long
before they toddle about so it is something they already are accustomed
too.

When Penny and the cousins were younger, I used a bell pinned to the
back, but at home, we don't use anything except what we can naturally
hear. Pen never shuts up so we can hear her most the time! Ha-ha! At
almost 22-months, Pen has been saying words for months, and recently
started a few sentences. Her newest is to run to the patio door in the
morning, point up and ask, "Where's the moon?" She's been
jibber-jabbering since, golly, I can't remember, but needless to say,
quiet is not usually part of her vocabulary, so tracking her by natural
sound usually isn't a problem!

Although, I'm ashamed to admit this, but a couple of weeks ago, my
sister had been over, and when she left, for some reason, she didn't
check the front door, and it was wide open. We live in an apartment, so
thankfully leaving the front door means there's still a staircase and
heavy door to the building to deal with, but nonetheless, it's not a
prime situation. Ross and I were searching and searching for the monkey
to no avail. For once, she wasn't responding or making noise. Ross, who
has some useable vision, was trying to find her visually too, but no
luck. I decided to check by the front door, which is when I discovered
it open. Since I didn't have my cane, I crept towards the stairs, mostly
not wanting to knock any wandering babies down, and of course, she was
waiting at the top of the stairs with her hands behind her back, like,
"Golly, what? Were you looking for me?"

Shouting to Ross I'd found her, I picked her up, chiding her, to which
her response was chuckling, smiling impishly and crying, "Go bye-bye!"

Note to self: always follow guest to door and double check it is shut.

At parks and other outdoor areas, especially if lots of other children
are around, we try using a bell, but if there's enough children, it's
often difficult to hear. We've considered those luggage locators, but
they're impossible to find. Seriously, we've checked multiple stores
selling luggage. I suppose we could easily locate it (ha-ha) on Amazon
though.

We also stay right on top of her, which makes it easier to locate her
and know what she's up too, but we also don't get to sit back and relax
like the other parents! *smile*

Ross usually gets up on playground equipment to make tracking her super
easy, and most the other kids love this since he's pretty much a big kid
too! H-ha! We may sound like overbearing parents, but Pen is a
dare-devil by nature; unfortunately she inherited my personality! No
angelic, docile child here; she's an imp through-and-through!

Jumping, climbing, running, diving- all activities Pen feels are
suitable at all times. Grandma about had a heart attack when she decided
to leap (no exaggeration) from grandma's couch and across the room, over
the coffee table, to the foot stool for the chair. It's not as big of a
leap as it sounds, but quite a feat for a 22-month toddler. The
itty-bitty, teeny-tiny imp still living deep down inside of me was proud
she executed the move effortlessly, but the rest of me, and all of
grandma, were a bit terrified by her daring.

This makes Pen sound like the naughtiest of children, but she's actually
very good-natured. She doesn't throw many tantrums, and most her
exploits stem from sheer curiosity and a sense of adventure as opposed
to a pure desire to cause a raucous and be intentionally naughty even
when she knows better. I'm happy to say, she's a lot better about
climbing and jumping onto, and off of, furniture and any other object
not intended for such use. The longing may be there, but we've worked on
not behaving this way as well as not giving grandma heart attacks. And
really, who doesn't want to leap from furniture to furniture at times?

She holds hands pretty well, though she'd prefer to be completely
independent, but she listens to Ross extremely well. No one else so
much, but for some reason, with Ross, she gets mesmerized and does
whatever he says. Hopefully this is a life-long trend!

It's usually not too difficult to track her, though, but we did
encounter a new situation the other day. We were at Burger King, and Pen
wanted to play in the play area. Most these play areas have enclosed
plastic tubing kids can run around in. Pen was hesitant at first, but
finally the inner monkey came out, and she scaled the climbing wall up
into the tunnel. Once inside, however, she decided to park it. She
wasn't scared, but didn't know what to do from that point on, and at the
moment, no other kids were playing in the area. We tried to show her
from the ground what to do, but she just smiled and waved. It's against
the rules for adults to play on the equipment, but we figured one of us
was going to have to go in after her.

Now, I have OCD tendancies, or well, just OCD, and hate touching things,
so you can imagine my hesitancy to climb through a tunnel god knows how
many dirty, grimy hands have touched, containing god knows how much gunk
and grime! Now don't judge, had her darling life been in danger, no one
could hold me back, but Pen was content, and no danger present, so my
reaction was to want to vomit at the thought of what might be all over
the play area, and yes, I did consider this before Pen herself touched
anything! Being the slimmest person in our group, I was the likely
candidate to accomplish the task- just my luck! *giggle*

Finally, some other children scurried in scrambling around the play
area. I figured Pen would mimic whatever they did, especially since
mimicking is her special talent, but no such luck. We heard kid after
kid complain to their parents, "That little girl won't let anyone
through." We chuckled at this, simultaneously looking about the room
like we had no idea what was happening. Pen, meanwhile, was happy
staring out at the masses gathering on the ground.

My sister was with us, and she finally elected herself to deal with the
situation. Upon moving the little monkey along, down the slide and
returning to us, my sister confirmed my worse fear- the tunnel was
coated with a greasy film- and Pen laughed, shouting, "MORE!"

We'd never really thought about a situation like this, who would? Moral
of story: be prepared for playground equipment you may not be able to
access yourself, and bring disinfectant wipes and HAZMAT suits in the
event you must retrieve your child. In fact, add child retrieving from
fastfood restaurant play areas drills along with fire and severe weather
drills at home.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog for Live Well Nebraska.com at
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:11:31 -0700
From: "Erin Rumer" <erinrumer at gmail.com>
To: "NFB blind parent listserv" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [blparent] tracking toddler by sound
Message-ID: <000e01cc7190$8c8e3120$a5aa9360$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Hello all,

Now that Dawson is quickly crawling all over the place I want to
encourage him to be exploratory while keeping track of him, especially
when we're at play groups.  I'd love to hear your ideas of what worked
for your kids.  I'm thinking of getting a toddler harness and attaching
some bells onto it that have a light but noticeable sound.  I've also
considered getting one of those key finder things and tracking him that
way by hitting a little remote.  Whatever I use I want to make sure that
it's not frustrating for Dawson to wear and durable enough to where he
can't get the sound piece off. Bells on shoes have been a lifelong
tradition that I think would work better on kids a little older than a
year because at Dawson's age he still thinks the shoes are toys and
keeps taking them off.  I do have some shoes with squeakers that will
work nicely when he's older and walking.

Thanks,

Erin

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