Catching Up

It's officially been two weeks since Angie has joined our home and her overall performance has earned her a B. Here is the breakdown:

Advanced cuddling: A
- Angie excels at snuggling up and quickly falling asleep. She is always up for any cuddling no matter where she is or what is going on around her.

Bathroom Differential: D
- Although this week has been better, she still struggles letting us know when she needs to go outside. We are also working on her "submissive wetting" issues.

Social Skills: B
- She initially earned a C, but improved her grade by bonding with Craig. She could improve in her interactions with new people by not being so scared and shy.

Physical Education: B
- Angie is a good walker but needs to improve by not stopping at every new smell. She has definitely learned how to play with her toys, but could raise her grade by not destroying every toy given to her.

Following Directions: B
- Angie loves praise but is quite stubborn when it comes to initially following directions. She will do what you ask, but it takes a lot of cajoling on our part sometimes.

Peer Assessment: A
- Except for a few run-ins with Andy over sharing a ball (understandable) Andy and Annabelle very much enjoyed their time with Angie at our house. She snuggled very well with Annabelle and also played well with Andy, for the most part.

Other news from our house includes:
- Angie did have to go into the vet on Thursday because of a bug that she picked up which made her tummy not feel so well. She was put on antibiotics and a bland food diet and is feeling much better today (Saturday) but she isn't allowed to go to the 4th of July party because we don't want to get the cousins sick.

- We have our flowers, cakes and party favors done for the wedding! Hurray! That is a big load off our shoulders and next on my list is bridesmaid dresses, save the dates and invitations. I just need Craig to get me his list completed of invites and then I think we'll be ready to go!

- Michael Jackson's death is incredibly sad and tragic, but more sad and tragic is the way his life ended up and how he will be remembered - probably not for his music, but instead for his eccentricities and sketchy judgment with children. Having said that, Michael Jackson reminds me of the old phrase "which came first - the chicken or the egg?" By that I mean: was MJ created by God as the eccentric and seemingly emotionally unstable person that he was, or did circumstances (abusive father and intense media scrutiny) create his troubles? I'm inclined to think that the fame at such a young age combined with a rather unstable homelife leads to disaster for people...look at Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan compared to Justin Timberlake. All three had loads of fame at a young age, but JT has a supportive and strong family background, where Brit and Lindsay don't. Okay, I know that it sounds a bit presumptuous to assume that I know all about all these people's lives and backgrounds but I do read a lot of Perez Hilton as well as I believe myself to be pretty intuitive. Regardless...the whole situation is very sad for several reasons and I just hope that the media lets this story rest pretty soon so that the children and the family members can move on with their grief and their lives in the best way possible.