Good News

My mom got her Epstein-Barr Virus titers back today, and she's immune. That means she must have had it without ever knowing it as a child, the way most people get it. (Something like 95% of the population has had it before age 35). So her doctors will allow her to spend time with me. Hooray!

We're having Thanksgiving here at our house. I'm excited about that. The cleaner is coming on Wednesday and my new household helper is coming Monday and Tuesday, so we should have no trouble getting ready.

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The old family friend who is going to be my home helper came yesterday. She, the kids and the dog all liked each other. We talked scheduling, salary and tasks. I think she will be a big help even if we can only have her come for 5 hours a week. She's going to come twice a week until I don't need her or we find some live-in help.

I can already tell she's going to mother me a bit--not surprising since she has kids my age and has known me since I was a child. She has already decided that one of her responsibilities will be making sure I drink enough water. :)

Mira went to the last session of the homeschool co-op with us today. I thought that, since it was a casual craft day and would be shorter and less formal, with fewer people, it would be a good introduction for her to the environment there.

I didn't quite account for the fact that, since it wasn't a regular class day and everyone was milling around in one room, it would be quite a bit noisier and more chaotic than a normal class day.

When we walked in, one of the leaders of the group took one look at us and said, "Oh, no. I don't think this is a good idea. There are a lot of kids here. I'm worried it's going to be too much for you having the dog here."

She offered to let me and the dog hang out in a quiet room down the hall while someone else helped my kids make crafts, but I didn't really want to do that. I did accept some help getting the kids to their stations, though, because with my cane, the dog, our coats, three kids, and the bag of photos we brought for one of the crafts, it was a bit much to handle.

I had been expecting the crafts to be set up at stations with chairs around the tables, but they weren't. Most of them were set up so that you had to be standing while working on them. So I wasn't able to do the crafts I had signed up for or help my kids as much as I had envisioned.

The parents who were helping with the crafts were happy to help my kids when they needed help, so I just sat with Mira and watched from a little distance most of the time. Everyone is so kind.

Mira was a little bit stressed at first. She was pulling on the leash a bit (we still need to work on that) and doing lots of panting, scratching, yawning and that sort of stress indicators. So I took her outside a couple of times to see if she needed to go to the bathroom and to give her a breather. I thought about sitting in the car with her for a few minutes, but then remembered that of course we didn't have the van there, since DH dropped us off and would be picking us up later.

When we went back in, I found a place to sit down near where my kids were doing crafts, and put Mira in a down-stay. She stayed there and watched everything with great interest, getting more relaxed as the minutes passed. She really wanted to go and play with all the kids, but she stayed with me. Toward the end, some kids were running around and even ran past within inches of her (I was worried she would get stepped on) and she just stayed where I had put her and watched them go.

She did get antsy after a while and really wanted something to do, so I had her fetch some things and practiced some obedience commands with her. The kids got a kick out of seeing her sit, lay down, sit up and beg, speak, roll over, bring me things I pointed to, etc. It gave her a chance to stretch her muscles and burn off a tiny bit of energy, and then she was ready to lie down quietly next to me for the rest of the time.

Mira did great whenever I was sitting down relaxing, but whenever I got up and walked around she kept alerting. Apparently she thought I should be resting, not walking around in a busy, milling crowd that might (she thought) be dangerous to me.

I told another mom that Mira thought I should be sitting down resting instead of walking around in the crowd, and she said, "Well, she's probably right! She's taking good care of you."

Near the end, the person who had been worried about having her there came over and said, "She's doing really well. I'm so impressed. I thought it would be too much for you trying to control her around a group of kids this big, but she's doing great!" That sort of thing always makes my day. :)

Toward the end, I was able to walk around for a few minutes and visit with people without Mira getting too upset about it and trying to make me sit down again. I dropped my cane at one point, and Mira drew gasps of amazement and some oohs and aahs when she picked it up and handed it to me. By the time she had also handed me my keys and a pen I dropped, she had an admiring circle of fans.

The kids really had a good time, DH was happy to do the driving, and with my cane and Mira it wasn't too terribly taxing for me.

I'm glad we went. And I'm doubly glad I didn't end up having to lie down in a storage closet and then have other families inconvenienced trying to help us get home, like happened last week.