Last Wednesday

Wednesday's game plan....

Bob came at 9am and we were to go to Chuck E Cheese and Jump N Play. Mike was at home for the third day in a row to watch Alex, from my eye appt on Monday, the sitter being sick on Tuesday, and now Alex was full blown sick and we didnt have a sitter that would take him while sick, can't blame them too!

Alex had thrown up several times all over his room during the night and somehow didn't wake any of us up. Honey didnt stir, he didn't come get us, nor did he wake either of his sisters. Poor baby, we found him asleep on the floor curled up in a ball. :( So Mike took the day off, to do a few things around the house and take care of Alex.

Bob and I went out and did a quick walk around the neighborhood to burn off some steam and then we took off for Walmart and the play places. We headed to Walmart first, and had a little bit of resistance from the greeters there. Once Bob explained he was from the school and showed the greeter that the harness was inscribed with the schools name and location, with reluctance, the greeters waved us on. Bob showed me how to pull a shopping cart behind me and Honey guiding. Then we walked through the store and up and down the food aisles, more to give Honey the exposure to it, which she'll remember if we go back. Quite a few looks were interesting, as wpeople were suprrised to see a dog in the food section.

So then we took off and went to Jump N Play first, which wasn't all that busy and there wasn't a whole lot there. So we went on to Chuck E Cheese and this time there was maybe a few more kids, but the majority of them were sitting down eating for a birthday party. So we walked through the games and around the couple of places that there was kids at, and Honey was her calm and relaxed self. She actually was kind of pulling me in the directions I'd had her go the day before and after about 15 minutes she was looking at me with those big brown eyes asking why the heck we were walking in circles again. So she was DONE with that! LOL! So we headed out of there and Bob asked about going to the Library instead, since we'd passed it on our way from Walmart to Jump N Play.

So we get to the library and head on in. I ask if we are just going to walk around as we'd been doing most of the day and I immediately thought to go to the Junior dept, since that is where I'd be going with the kids and they have the play area/likelihood of kids being there. JACKPOT!!! :D We walk in and there was actually more kids here than there was at either of the other two places! LOL! The big stuffed animals they had there were also all strewn out and about so it was good practice too for Honey to guide me around those. The little ones too, you could hear the squeals of delight and "Mommy!!!! Look! A doggy!!!" So we did really well to come to the library and I hadn't even thought of it. So we walked the aisles and back and forth through the kids, stuffed animals and around the books on the floor.

Then after a bit, Bob came over and said there was a young lady that would like to talk with me about Honey. So we went over to meet her and I put Honey in the down/stay. It was just one of those things that in our house we like to call a "Godcidence" as this young girl, probably 11-12, had three books in her arms. They were Assistance Dogs, Canine Companions, and Hearing Dogs. She explained that she was homeschooled and doing a project and report on assistance dogs of all kinds. She had been through the entire library and hadn't been able to find much at all, other than the three books she had in her hands. She was standing there at the desk, checking out her books and we came walking in. She said she was giddy with excitement and was like "OOHHH, OHHH, gotta talk to them!!!!" So she approached Bob and asked very politely if she could talk with us about guide dogs. So she asked a few questions and Bob explained the process of the puppies going to raisers at about 8 weeks through about 13-14 months. Then that the dogs come in for formal training, and then there is the matching process to the new handlers-to-be. He also gave her his email and phone number, telling her that if she'd call, he'd be happy to talk with her more as well as send her some literature from the school about the programs as well. I also gave her my name, email, and phone number if she wanted to do another "interview" if you will or needed more information.

She was busting at the seams and very happy with her new found source, and we then headed off to go back to the house. On the way out, the girl's sister brought their mom over to meet us before we left and the mom was VERY appreciative and said thanks for taking the time to talk with her girls. :) Bob and I got out to the car and was like Wow! That was just too cool! LOL!

So we came back to the house and took a break for lunch. I put Alex down for a nap and Mike went over to the nursing home to fill out the paperwork to put his mom on Medicaid. She's finally used up all her finances to qualify, so that is in and we'll be completing that as soon as it comes back in. That is the last major thing we'll have to do with her, other than when the time comes to take care of will stuff. :( We did find out thankfully that in IN, you can change the ownerships of all life insurance policies and it is exempt from the 7 year rule of what is considered assets. So we had gotten that taken care of and we will still have the life insurance policies on her, not having go through and forfeit all of those, cashing them in. YAY!

Bob came back by after lunch and we did another walk around the neighborhood and partially into the next neighborhood, working the pine tree again. I kind of cut things a little short as I was really in a lot of pain in my hips from all the walking. It really suprised me that I was, since I did fine at the school for 10 days doing all the walking there. The only differences I can figure out was I was wearing a different pair of shoes with another pr of socks and Bob mentioned that walking on snow is entirely different than not. Where in NY we were lucky and didn't have any snow there. So we wrapped things up and we talked a little more about working with Honey on the alarm clock, which I need to get started on.

He said goodbye and I had Katie and Alex on my own that evening, as Mike went up and did some work. Meaghan spent the evening at Grandma and Grandpa's, but when they brought her home, you could tell she wasn't feeling well at all. She wound up waking up after Mike got home, complaining her tummy hurt. We gave her some tums and sent her back to bed. She got up the next morning and was really stuffed up and not feeling well.