Ok, 3rd time’s the charm? This is the 3rd time I’m attempting to write this post. Each time it gets shorter. Each time it seems to disappear, even tho’ I saved it last time. Yea, I have time & patience for this….
In short – we (Andy, Maria, & I) went to Albuquerque to visit Grandpa for New Year’s weekend, since we didn’t make it for Thanksgiving. We wanted to check out the new place they’re living (a place that has independent living, assisted living, and nursing home all in one place). We stayed in one of the rooms they rent for $70/night. We were expecting a full kitchen, but the room we got only had a tiny fridge, so I had to haul Maria’s food back and forth between our rooms, but still better than staying in a hotel off the property.
I like the place and their apartment. Smaller than their house, but still not too bad. They’re mostly settled in, still adjusting to the space, what fits what doesn’t. Grandma Ida’s not too happy about not being able to drive–I don’t blame her. We ate in the dining hall for breakfast every day since it was included with the room. Good food, good stuff for Maria, but as is her usual for when we travel–she didn’t eat much. For lunch & dinner, we often fed her avocado (easy & good). Once (went to Santa Fe for dinner to see step-bro David and wife Karen) we tried to feed her a tiny bit of chile and she carried on like we tried to poison her. The chile wasn’t very hot this trip, so she must have gotten the one and only hot piece of chile in the state…. (before you think I’m torturing my poor baby, she has eaten spicy food before and really enjoys it).
Maria sure likes her Grandpa! When she was on his lap, she was putting her hand down his shirt and playing with the hair on his chest. He didn’t mind until she started pulling… She was also playing with her Auntie Barb (step-sis) and husband Dennis. She’s such a friendly girl! It’s cute until she pulls her shennanigans (hair pulling, biting, pinching, etc). Of course, I didn’t have my camera with me during the most cute interactions, but maybe next time.
We had a nice lunch with Aunt Louise & cousin Susan. Didn’t get to see the rest of the clan. I wish I could let Aunt Louise hold Maria more, but I’m just worried about her being too fast for Aunt Louise…
We ended up leaving a day early to miss the storm. I’m glad we did! They got quite a bit up in Flagstaff. Plus, Manolis missed us. He stayed home because his nose still isn’t quite healed.
Yesterday we had our quarterly ISP (Individual Service Plan) review with the state Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). I’ve already requested to have a different coordinator, but his boss wanted him to finish up this review before handing it off to someone else. He’s a nice enough guy but he and I don’t communicate in a similar way. I talk and he looks at me. I ask questions and he looks at me. Our annual ISP in Sept took 3 hours, and it took over 2 months to get a copy of it (and I only got it because I called to get a copy). We’re trying to get additional services (Habilitation, which is teaching Maria skills that will help her live independently, and Attendant Care, which is basically what Sue does daily–bathing, feeding, changing, etc). He kept telling me they keep turning it down. I asked why. He said because they’re asking what’s changed with the family. We gave him about 10 things he could write down. He just looked at me. I asked him what are you looking for, what answer do you want. He said what’s changed. At least once, I had to get up and leave the room because I wanted to throttle him. Sue was there trying to help; a woman from an agency training Sue to be the Habilitation and Attendant Care provider was there trying to help; the physical therapist came in trying to help. He ended up getting very upset and offended and left. I called his supervisor and told him what went down, mostly blaming it on him and I not communicating well. I kinda feel he thinks it’s more me than him, but said to call anytime I have questions or comments and he’d get me that new coordinator. As they say in the texting world….OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!