The past two weeks have been really draining. We've been busy at home, Maya's been really cranky (teething? terrible twos arrive early?), I've been doing more remote work for KIPP, I have a million (ok, 4 or 5) doctor appointments that I need to schedule for Maya, and some friends/family have been having emotionally turbulent times, which tugs at me subconsciously. We also have a few larger projects looming, each requiring a lot of work. So, without further ado, here's one:

We've been working on kind of a big secret project over here, but I've been hesitant to blog about it because I wasn't sure where it was going to lead (although some family folks and one or two message boards have listened to me thinking through various parts of the process). But now I feel like we're up to our elbows in it, so it's time to put it out there.

We're trying to get Maya a dog.

(not this one)

A DOGGIE! Can you imagine her unbridled enthusiasm? (If you're having trouble visualizing, just click on the "dogs" tag to your right---->


The idea started because Maya's feeding/speech therapist has her dog (a very small, calm toy poodle/poodle mix) at her sessions. And when Maya gets cranky during therapy, I can point out the dog and she'll smile and sit up and refocus (ish). So Dave & I joked that we should get Maya a threapy dog. And then we thought about it more and more, and it seemed less like a joke and more like a potentially amazing idea.

Long story short---we applied to service dog organizations, and although we qualify, the wait is very long. Since the dog could actually help Maya to progress with her therapies we really don't want to wait a year (or longer) to get one. Our building is not typically dog friendly, but we are asking the board to waive the regulation for us, since the dog is recommended by her therapists and doctor . . . the board meeting is on Monday night and I've been busy amassing recommendation letters and working on a packet to give them. So, ideally, we could have "permission" to get a dog as early as Monday night. Then we would begin researching breeds, possibly trainers, etc. Very exciting :)

After I finish the package for the board I'll copy and paste some stuff up here so that you all can see the sort of stuff that we're hoping the dog will help with.

Oh, and that pregnant rat had 11 babies this morning.