[Artists-making-art] Hello all

Tue May 27 12:28:12 UTC 2014

Hi Amanda,
I went to your website. Your crafts store is not working - it brings up 
nothing but an apology that it is not working. Did you know that?

The idea that you have for a website is a good one and your page title 
should bring in visitors - but if there is no graphics and photos on any 
pages a sighted viewer will not stay there at all. To sell your work 
on-line, you will need to post some nice photos with the infirmation about 
sizes, fiber content, color, etc.  I would suggest you visit some other 
craft sites and compare your site with some other ones to get a grasp on 
what works for other people, too.

As for potty training advice - I had six children - all grown up now with 
children of their own.

Make a special "potty toy" basket. Put toys in it that can only be given to 
the child to play with when he is on the potty. Make it very special so that 
he wants to be on the potty more often so he can play with those special 
"potty toys."

Stay with him the entire time he is on the potty - and don't make it for 
very long as they cannot sit still for more than a few minutes. Stay with 
him and play with the special toys with him and keep reinforcing that these 
toys are for good little boys who are learning how to be a big boy who does 
his potty on the big potty.

I created special names for what the natural body functions are: tinkle for 
urine elimination; birdies, for bowel movement. I have heard many other 
creative and fun words that are nice words the child can use in public 
without any embarrasing words that you would not want anyone to hear your 
child say.
One child called her urine elimination, "toy-toy."  Make up something fun 
and special.

I created a little basket that was filled with wrapped gifts - just little 
things that would be a reward for when we had a success.  Keep the basket up 
high so he cannot get into it - bring it down for him to select a wrapped 
gift when he is successful.  It can be some little things from the dollar 
store, crayons, coloring book, little toy cars, a bit of candy, etc.

Begin to show him some colorful "pull ups" and tell him when he starts to do 
his business on the potty, then he can start to wear one of these pull-ups. 
Make a very big deal of it - make it something he really wants to wear.

When he is successful, do a "happy potty dance" with him.  Dance about the 
room, clap your hands and sing a little song the two of you create as you 
celebrate his success. Let him associate his potty successes with 
celebration and happiness. Give him lots of praise.

You do not say how old your child is, but remember that a boy takes much 
longer to train than does a girl. The boy brain is very far behind, 
developementally, than the girl brain. A great book to read on this topic - 
and I wish I had read such a book when my children were small - is The 
Female Brain.  I learned so much about the physical developement of male and 
female brains and it begins in the womb - and spans the lifetime of a 
person. You will learn so much by reading this book, and you will be so much 
better to understand what your son can do and when.

Since you enjoy crafts you might create something special to display on the 
refrigerator - a special way of acknowledging his potty lsuccesses. What can 
you do together? Think of something that he will really be proud of and do 
it together. Good LUCK.

Just a few musings and hope this helps you a bit.  Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Amanda Matheny via Artists-making-art" 
<artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons" 
<artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2014 3:43 PM
Subject: [Artists-making-art] Hello all

> Hi all,
>
> Again I am sorry I haven't been very active on these lists.
> Unfortunately, I probably will not be for a while due to things going
> on here, but I am definitely still here. Actually I will probably sign
> into my personal and website email accounts on two different browsers
> in future so I can stay signed in and check them both more frequently.
> Anyway I'll give you a little update on the goings on with me. Feel
> free to shoot me a message off list too if you just want to chat about
> whatever. I'll be happy to respond when I can.
>
> I think I have a B-12 deficiency because I have been feeling very
> fatigued and had a lot of headaches lately, among other things. It's
> been a similar feeling to my iron being low, but I've been taking my
> supplement for that regularly and B-12 is the next most likely cause,
> so trying to knock that out. If I can, I'll be more active hopefully
> because I won't be feeling so wiped out all the time.
>
> I've been working hard on my studying and actually found a way to use
> Jim Kitchen's trivia engine as a study tool interestingly enough, at
> the suggestion of a good friend. I've been working hard to create a
> trivia game for my Integrated Physical Sciences class to help me
> prepare for the test.
>
> I've also been getting my son ready to start Head Start in the fall,
> and worked on a little potty training, though he is still struggling
> in that area. Any suggestions would be appreciated if you have them.
> He'll sit on the toilet but not use it.
>
> Whenever I've had the chance, I have been working on my website,
> www.craftyfrugalmom.com, which I've mentioned before. It's still only
> 2 months old, but I am working on adding content to it. I've added
> some the past couple of days as well as over the past couple of weeks,
> and I still have more material coming. I also now have a page for
> becoming a contributor if anyone is interested in doing so. Feel free
> to check it out and contact me if interested. There is also a contest
> now running on the site you can check out. I've also finished another
> variegated coaster/placemat set I'll soon be adding to my store.
>
> Other than that, in my free time, whenever I have it which is usually
> late at night, I've been working on my crafts. The coasters and
> placemats take a while but hopefully now that I'm back to tissue box
> covers, I'll be able to complete them more quickly.
>
> I'm also hopeful we'll get my dishwasher working soon, as that would
> drastically reduce the time I spend on dishes. We have the parts and
> just need to connect it, but I need some help with that. As you can
> tell my life has been incredibly busy. However, I am more active on
> Twitter as I have a client that runs in the background, so if you have
> one, feel free to follow @craftyfrugalmom, my website Twitter account
> or @shadowy_soul, my personal one, and introduce yourself.
>
> As I said I hope to become more active on here and I will go now and
> see about logging onto each account in different browsers for
> simplicity. Hope to hear from all of you soon.
>
> -- 
> Amanda Matheny
> Twitter: @craftyfrugalmom
> Website: www.craftyfrugalmom.com
>
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