Nara is Home

Just like new babies, puppies can arrive early. We were anticipating picking her up Saturday, but I got a call Wednesday afternoon, asking if we wanted to come get her. We jumped at the chance and surprised the kids. I made a quick trip to PetSmart to get some necessities - collar, leash, food, etc. A friend dropped off a crate later that evening.The kids had church activities that night, we went to Cornell's with Joely to pick up our sweet little Nara. It was really sad leaving because she was only the second puppy to go. She played with her parents and siblings before we left. She seemed to know what was going to happen, but of course that wasn't possible.

We drove to church to pick up the kids. I had a sleeping puppy on my lap and we made it home and in the house before the kids noticed her in my arms. Calla saw first and with a dropped jaw and then a big smile she welcomed Nara home. Carter, was talking a mile a minute, stood next to me holding Nara and didn't notice until Calla said something. The kids were thrilled.

We all were wondering how our 11 year old lab would respond to a puppy. Pepper seemed scared, she was shaking a bit. Nara was very happy to meet her, thought she would have a playmate to rough house with, but not so far. Cory and I petted Pepper and gave her lots of attention and love while still trying to play with Nara. After a couple hours, Pepper returned the interest in Nara, sniffed and licked her, reassuring the rest of us, that all would be ok.

As expected, we had a loud first night (and second too). But having a strong willed child has helped prepare me to be in control of the dog and not let my heart melt too much.

Nara sleeps a lot still during the day. Her first day my goal was to get her in crate without too much crying - it was a success and right now she is sleeping in it voluntarily!

Family Update

Yikes, it has been a month (almost) since I last blogged.

Here's what has been happening in our family:

Cory - moved into an office early October. He had been working in our basement with a couple other people doing some side work. they were so busy with it (and it keeps coming) that they needed to move out! Thankfully, they found some great space downtown, near his full time job, and it has helped my stress level, having our house to ourselves.

Calla - soccer ended. Calla went on a middle school retreat to Camp Geneva. I got to go with and it was so much fun! Days later, she came down with H1N1. The 106.9 fever brought her and I to the ER. Luckily her fever was starting to brake before we even got there. And she did really well being so sick when her fever was under control. Midterm reports came out and all A's!

Carter - is in the middle of Lego League Robotics. He practices 4 times a week, twice during lunch, twice after school. He is an alternate, so he is taking the year to learn. He has contributed good ideas and has fun with the team. The competition is November 21, if someone is sick, he will be ready to fill in. Carter has also discovered he misses playing soccer. We talked to the coaches and owner of Vardar and they are letting him train with the team. He is trying it out to see if he wants to commit and they get to try him out too. Carter too is all A's.

Joely - has been better with getting dressed and off to school. She loves it, loves having friends and teachers. It is so fun to see her learning new songs and have some fun experiences of her own. We had conferences for her. Her teacher loves having her int he class. She loves circle time - singing and listening to stories. The one thing that surprised me is that she is quiet at school. Her teacher said bashful. Hmm, not expecting that, at home she exudes confidence. Calla was like this too at this age. But she behaves quite well at school, so maybe this is the flip side of her not be overly comfortable.

Myself - I got to go with Calla to the retreat and realized how much I love working with the youth at church. I teach confirmation, but miss the weekly interaction with students. I have been walking in the mornings 3-5 times a week. It hasn't been nice outside, although November has been great! Our church moved locations, so I helped there a bit cleaning. Somehow I just stay busy!

Our puppy comes this week. I am sure many more pictures and stories will follow, keeping me on track to blog more regularly. Now I realize this sounds more like a poorly written Christmas letter - sorry!

She's Smarter Than I Think

For a year now I have worked with Joely regarding sequencing in regards to time. I say "first socks, then shoes." or "first clothes (get dressed), then car (we go out)." this never seems to phase her. She is constantly frustrated that she is not getting her way. But of course, Joely likes to prove me wrong.

Today we brought Cory to the airport, then Joely I had to drop the kids off at school. During this time she is so excited to go back to school after being absent fot the three days. We pull in the parking lot for the big kids' school, and Joely said, "I want to go to Joely's school." I replied, "first Calla and Carter's school, then Joely's school." He pleasantly sweet response, "Oh, I wait."

I should never underestimate her.

Our Newest Family Member

Yes, I am crazy, this is Nara, our puppy. She is not at our house yet, she's just 4 weeks old and needs her momma. But we have been very fortunate to be able to go and visit Nara and her siblings (there were 10!). She changes so much week to week. Normally I would go visit tonight, but maybe the whole family can visit Sunday. We are excited for November when Nara can come home.

School Update

Joely has been in school for a little over a month. She is doing well. She like school, but doesn't always want to get ready for school. This is our daily struggle. It is hard to tell if it is getting her moving and ready after she has been able to take it easy over the summer or if it is transitioning into new clothes. She had trouble last year at this time getting dressed and we are experiencing a similar struggle this year.

Because Joely rides a bus, I don't speak with her teacher on a daily basis. Her teacher called and let me know how Joely was doing and emails regularly. Conferences are at the end of the month.

We get to visit a pumpkin patch with the am and pm classes next week. The whole families are invited. Carter is really looking forward to it, you would think at age 9, hanging out with preschool classes wouldn't be high on his priority list. But truthfully, we haven't carved pumpkins in a few years, so it could be that he glad to get a pumpkin.

Joely's school pictures were bad, retakes next week. Hopefully she will smile, and they will do a better job with photographing on a green screen.

One Year Ago

It is around the year mark that Joely was evaluated for speech. A year ago, she had several tantrums a day, she was very frustrated not being able to communicate verbally. She had a vocabulary of 20 words or so.

After a year of therapy, we now hear Joely say:

"Mommy I want a doughnut with sprinkles." - luckily we had them.
"I can't take it anymore." - she didn't want to get dressed that morning.
"Stop, go the other way." - we hear this when she recognizes that we are on our way home.
"The big, giant ant crashed into the house." - she was telling us a story today.

We are so proud of her and the progress she's made in such a short time.

A Peaceful Demonstration

Joely's newest way to show here displeasure in leaving a store, church, restaurant, etc is to calmly sit down. She sits just outside the door and invites us to sit with her. It is quite cute and thankfully, it's a peaceful demonstration of her feelings, but a little irritating when in a hurry.
Her latest one was when we had to leave school, she calmly said "I'm Not." After I told her it was time to leave. This happened in school and then on the playground on our way to the car.