Discipline?

Lately I am finding it more and more difficult figuring out ways to discipline Zoe. It seems like I am constantly yelling at her- not because I want to, because I don't know if she can hear me. I have tried using the signs for "stop" and "no"- but she doesn't seem to respond well to those. I can handle disciplining a child- I have a 12 year old sister who I almost raised when I was just 12 years old myself. I didn't do too bad with her, I learned what punishments were effective for her age and it worked fine. I do not know how to discipline a hearing impaired child. I know she needs to learn boundries, and respect, and all of those things people teach their kids- but I just don't know how.

She doesn't understand why mommy is mad at her, she doesn't understand what I want from her. I feel terrible for even having to discipline her. Some days I want to just let her do whatever she wants just because I feel sorry for her situation. I know that is not the right thing to do for her, though. Zoe's main discipline issues lie in basic "meddling"- she picks up everything. She gets up on the chair to the dining room table and pours drinks out on the floor, or drowns herself in them trying to drink from a larger cup before I grab her off the chair. She runs with an outstretched arm across the vertical blinds, and yanks on them until I go get her. I can see that she knows what pushes our buttons, she even takes off running the minute someone stands up to grab her away from what she is doing.

Maybe this doesn't have as much to do with her being hearing impaired as it does her just being a toddler, but I am finding it hard to figure out what to do with her sometimes!