All along the watch tower.......

11/2/08 Just a Bob Dylan sort of day, no other reason for the title of todays blog! (AND I have a version where Dave Matthews sings the song....what could be BETTER?) Matter of fact, speaking of Dave Matthews...I am watching a re-run of House. YES. The House with Dave Mathhews. He is INCREDIBLE!!!

I have been bad at taking pictures this weekend. Other than the Friday night excursion with Trick-Or-Treating!! So fun.

Yesterday? Let's see. It was busy....but I did accomplish a bunch. We slept in, and then got things ready to go to the hospital to test 3 dogs for K-9's. 2 of the 3 passed, and the 3rd was SUPER close! So, it was productive. Anastiya went with Grandma Costello while we were doing evaluations. Then, Sam and I went home, I groomed Gypsy (one of our standard poodles) and finished just in time to go to Fernando's Wedgewood Pizza (the best Pizza anywhere around!) for our calendar wrap-up party. Mom C. met us there in the parking lot and brought Anastiya, and we went in for our party. We were there for a couple of hours...it was a lot of fun. It is always great to be around the fun people in K-9's. Our 2009 calendars are fantastic!! I am really impressed!

I stayed up until 2:00 AM to try to get caught up on some stuff, and I did make a big step!! If I can continue this pattern, I would feel much better.

Today was my Dad's birthday. 30, again! Happy Birthday Dad! Of course, I hate buying him presents, because he doesn't want anything, ever, and he is the pickiest person ever. So, his present stunk. But, hopefully he likes it, and hopefully the money aspect he uses on something other than buying gasoline or wood for the woodburner. I groomed Vickie (so BOTH standard poodles are now groomed! YEAH!!!) and I am ready for my class tomorrow!!!

Ya know, you just never know who is going to pop up on this blog!! Last week (or the week before? Losing track of time?) I said how great the Wizard Of Oz was at the Carousel Dinner Theatre...and the marketing director of the Carousel ended up finding the website and commented! How neat! I do love the Carousel. We see 2-3 shows a year there...and it is phenomenal every time. They are a notch above the rest in our area!

I did another monthly post-placement to EAC (Our WONDERFUL adoption agency!). Anastiya is now 33 1/2 inches, so she has grown a 1/2 an inch in a month. And her weight is still the same, at 25 pounds. She is eating REALLY well...MOST of the time...so I am not really concerned about it. Of course, we are about 2 weeks away (maybe just a little more) from our next Rainbow Babies appointment. So, since there hasn't been a spike, I aniticipate that they are going to recommend going to the endocrinologist and a geneticist. So, that is okay. All they can be is wrong. Nothing is invasive or painful.....(other than to our pocket book)...so, we will go. However, we are going to wait until after the holidays to go. (Although, who knows how far these guys are booked.) I have lots of questions for Rainbows about this, too.

So, we have a plan. This Tuesday Anastiya is going to try a lesson at a gymanastics center. She is going just before her speech therapy class. This class is for 18 months to 3 years. SO, she should not be the smallest in the class!! This will be once a week for 45 minutes. I hope she likes it! This will help with socialization, I believe.

And then, NEXT week she will begin going to a day care/pre-school 2 times a week for 2 hours each day for more socialization. This place is great. Normally there is a waiting list. Lucky for us, my brother Tony's friend Pete's wife Melissa works there, and with a referral you get in! YEAH! So, she is going to start. I am going to go with her the 1st two days the whole 2 hours. Then week 2 I will stay for 1 of the hours and then wait in the car the other 2 hours, then week 3 I will sit in the car outside the whole 2 hours..if all goes well there, then I will plan on the second day in week 3 going home. This place has cameras in each room, so I can log on to the internet and watch the entire time!! I love this option. I will keep 1 computer logged in the entire time! Talk about making people accountable. I like it. They should do this at Nursing Homes, at Veterinary clinics...EVERYWHERE. I love it. We went last Thursday to visit this facility, and took Anastiya. She engaged several of the kids....it was great. And the kids in this particular class (they have a name, I just don't remember it!) are about her size......the maximum capacity is 5 in that particular room!!!! Isn't that fantastic? THIS is a situation I feel like will work. In the meantime, not this week but next week I have to go and face Mrs. Waldman one more time to get Anastiya's stuff and to meet with her and her boss to have an exit interview. I am very torn about what I am really going to say. 1 thing I will definately say is that no matter WHO it is and WHAT you think they can understand, you shouldn't act like they don't exist. When I teach the Team Training Course for Delta Society, I really drive this idea home. Even if the person you are visiting is in a coma...you talk to them. We have no idea what is really capable of being understood. They aren't dead (and I would probably argue you need to talk to them too!)...they are just in an altered state. Anastiya's understanding is way beyond what she can communicate, in my opinion. THAT needs to be said. Besides that fact, I really don't want to make this too personal. I will not allow Anastiya to go back to her as a teacher. That is just the bottom line.

So, we have a busy and interesting week. I have started to try to sort through life, and figure out what has to go and what has to stay, and what I want to stay. At least there is a plan. This upcoming week is the last of my working more hours than usual that we have planned. (The only extra hours this week are the entire weekend!) So, starting next week, I can start to fall back into whatever NORMAL is.

Anastiya is copying our words more and more. She was copying 6 and 7 words sentances today! "Can I have a chip, please?" How funny!!!

I can't believe an entire weekend and no new pictures!! I promise to do better this week!

Loobloo-
Katie, Sam and Anastiya