Just a month of chaos

Wow. Just a complete month of chaos, as Rose's great-grandmother had to come live with us for a few weeks before getting settled into a retirement community. All of our homeschooling dropped away. Rosie was a trooper, though, giving up her room to Great-Grandma, and quietly amusing herself while we couldn't give her the level of attention she was accustomed to. Great-Grandma enjoyed talking with Rosie, too, since she can't hear well and Rosie had no qualms about getting right up next to her and shouting in her ear. She told many stories of her childhood that Rosie just loved.

On the plus side, things have calmed so much over the last month or so, even given the high levels of complete family chaos of which Great-Grandma's visit was a part. Rose is just so much more relaxed, and she has very good eye contact with us, which I've found is a strong indicator of her anxiety level. The more she can hold eye contact, the less anxious she is in general.

Rosie's older sister gave her a rabbit for Easter, and we were fairly apprehensive about how she would react, but she went right to the rabbit to pet it with very little fear. Later that same day, she actually held a moth. Given that animals and insects have elictited hysteria in the past, I'd say this is a powerful step forward.

Today, we finally recieved the Chewy Tube that Rosie had requested and she loves it. The only down side, she says, is that it lacks a flavor. I'll have to look into that... in the meantime, just not chewing fingers and hair is great.
We got the chewy from http://www.affordabletherapysolutions.com/ or rather, from their eBay storefront. I like that it's a family business. They ought to have quite a lot of familiarity with the products. Very fast shipping, too!