[blparent] Tracking Toddler by Sound

Wed Sep 14 14:41:35 UTC 2011

Thanks everyone for your great feedback and stories.

Erin

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Brandy W
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 5:52 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] Tracking Toddler by Sound

There is actually a child locator. The one that isn't so loud everyone
thinks is an alarm is something with Bear in the title like mamma find me
bear locator. If it is still to loud put some packing tape over the speaker.

Also you may think of trying the harness backpacks made in many animals. I
got mine for $5 on ebay brand new. Be where the butterflies are larger than
the monkey dog. It is great because they don't have to hold your hand, but
stay close.

Have fun you are in what I consider the hardest year 15 months to about 2
and a half. Just old enough to cause trouble and really explore, and young
enough to not quite get why it isn't OK.

Bran

"When we treat children's play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping
them feel the joy that's to be found in the creative spirit. It's the things
we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in
our lives."
- Fred Rogers

Brandy Wojcik
Discovery Toys Educational Consultant and Team Leader www.playtoachieve.com
(512) 689-5045

Looking for team members nation wide!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bridgit Pollpeter" <bpollpeter at hotmail.com>
To: <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 5:07 PM
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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