The Day After...

[Charlie]

This is me enjoying my lazy day after Turkey Day.  I don't know what all the fuss was about on that particular day.  Mum had two other people join us for dinner.  There was quite a spread, but I didn't get any of it.  Mum said something about too many spices being added to the turkey.  I think she considered giving us a piece of pumpkin pie, but didn't want to take any chanced that it would upset our tummies.

Anyway, this is me being lazy the day after Turkey Day.  Mum didn't include a picture, but said to make sure that I've figured out how to get underneath the Christmas tree (she put it up yesterday) and leave packages for her underneath there.  That's making her totally unhappy 'cause she has her huge red and green tree skirt underneath the tree that's made of felt and has a huge picture of Mickey Mouse on it.  This morning, she sprayed the skirt down with this stuff called "Off Paw."  I think she's hoping it'll keep me from going underneath the tree and leaving those packages for her.  All I want to do is leave suprises underneath the tree just like Santa would on Christmas Eve.  Abbie (that's my Golden Retreiver sister) can't get underneath the tree.  That's the advantage of being my size.  I can get to places she can't.  She has been sniffing around the branches, but mum didn't hang any of the ornaments too low for her to get to.

Brenda here - I really don't want to fight store traffic this weekend, but am considering going to one of the pet stores and investing in one of those puppy play pens.  I think I can maneuver it around the tree so the pups can't get to it.  Otherwise (and I may do this anyway), I'll end up crating them when I'm not home and neither will like that.

[David C.]

Awww...Charlie you're a cutie.  You remind me of my Max.

We also avoided the stores like the plague on Black Friday.  It was a beautiful day in Maryland, almost 60 degrees and bright sunshine, so we all took an opportunity to go out in the backyard.   

Here Zora soaks up some rays in the afternoon sun (and shows off her beautiful lines)...


...Zeke (bottom) is giving his "what for" to the neighboring lab/shep mix Sampson (top)...
:

...and Jessica, oblivious to all this, is very intent on playing in her sandbox:


It was a great day to just be lazy and be a family.

[Teresa]

We had a lazy Thanksgiving ourselves. Meg and I spent it with friends and family while Randy was at the fire department. I also avoided the stores yesterday, especially since South Carolina is doing a sales tax free holiday for Friday and Saturday. The idea is a nice one, but I think the weekend before Thanksgiving would have been better. It could have started the shopping earlier for the stores and more SC residents could have taken advantage of it since they would have been in town. The great part for those that were here is there was no state sales tax on anything at all, including vehicles! Ours in only 5%, but that is still a savings on cars and electronics. They are doing this as a one time deal because next summer our sales tax will increase to 6%. We do have a tax free weekend each year before school starts back. Meghan went some friends and camped out at Best Buy on Thursday night. She didn't really need to get anything for herself, but had fun, and came back with a few stories to tell! She did get a nice printer for $20.

We were brave and hit the mall this morning and were surprised by how empty it was. I expected more people to be out since there were still some good sales and no tax. I'm sure they will be there later and was glad it was quiet during the time we were there.

David, Zora almost looks brown and tan in that picture of her! I also love how you were able to get such a great picture of Jessica without her knowing about it. Those will probably be the ones you will be getting most of the time right now until she decides the camera is okay again. How is her speech therapy coming? I was thinking about her the other day and wondering how she was doing now. She will be so much fun this Christmas!

[Charlie]

I dropped off Abbie at the groomer's this morning and then went to Wal-mart and Target looking for puppy play pens.  No luck at either place, but both stores were empty.  I guess everyone was exhausted from shopping yesterday.   

[David C.]

Hi Teresa!

Thank you for thinking of us.   Zora is a chocolate/tan, but the sun probably lightened her coat to a brown/tan.   

The speech therapy is coming along...slowly...but at least we are progressing.   We're pretty sure Jessica understands more than she is able to communicate back to us.   She has a very stubborn streak (wonder where she gets that from?  ), and likes to do things her way.   Even when she knows the word or phrase, she likes to "shortcut"...for instance "I Love You" becomes "I Loo"

The one area where she breaks from the traditional autism diagnosis is that most autistic children do not have a sense of humor, or can't comprehend humor.   Jessica definitely has a sense of humor and does things that she knows is funny.   She's gone and taken her Grandma and put her in "Time Out", and when she is not allowed to turn on the TV, she takes Thomas the Tank Engine and presses the button with him, as if it was Thomas turning the TV on...and of course she laughs at us while she's doing it.

[Teresa]

I'm glad to know Jessica is progressing. I have a patient at my office whose son is autistic. Is verbal skills are phenomenal, it is other areas that the autism shows up in. One of my co-worker's nephew is autistic. He just turned 6. When he came in 6 months ago, we let Hayley clean his teeth since he was familiar with her. This time I was able to do it with Hayley and mom in the room. He will talk and communicate, but the more excited he gets, the harder he is to understand. One of the biggest problems with him has been socialization. He would rather be by himself. Now that he is older and appearing different to other children, they are not encouraging him to be part of their group because he is easily excitable and can get loud, and their is the language barrier. I'm so amazed at the many ways they have found that autism is showing up. The great thing is they have also found so many ways to work with these children and help them overcome the difficulties they face.
I'm sure Jessica's stubborn streak can be hard for you, but in the long run may be the best thing for her. You just have to wait until she reaches the age where she will use it to help her overcome something instead of just using it to refuse to do something!
It will be interesting to see if Zeke and Zora, being younger and more playful, will make a difference with her. You might find that to be another reason they have found their new forever home with you.