Thirty-Four More Days!

I ordered my copy from Amazon months ago -- did you?

Now there are only 34 more days left before the release of Schuyler's Monster, Rob Rummel-Hudson's book about his daughter, Schuyler, who suffers from Congenital Bilateral Perisylvian Syndrome (CBPS), an incurable condition which prevents her from speaking.

Things are getting exciting for Rob now. I received a publicity release from his publisher (St. Martin's Press) this afternoon, with all the publicity surrounding the release of the book. How I wish I were either in New York or Texas so I could attend some of these events.

Rob also says that the February issue of Good Housekeeping has a long-ish article with a full page photo of Schuyler. I can hardly wait till tomorrow when I will rush out and get a copy.

I rarely use a term like "blessed," but "blessed" is what I feel to have "known" Schuyler since her birth. I wrote about her a year ago, when some threats were made on her life. If you read Rob's entry for today, you'll know why I feel "blessed" to have Schuyler in my "imaginary life."

I don't know what life has in store for this amazing little "mute cyborg" (as Rob calls her in his book), but there is something very special about this child and I hope that I am going to be able to continue to share in her life, from afar, as she begins to expand her horizons.

(both photos have been "stolen" from Rob's Flickr site, with apologizes to the photographer, but I suspect he won't mind)

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Bissell is expanding his horizons too. I heard what I assumed was Lizzie playing with Sheila this afternoon. It went on for some time, the sounds of "mouth wrestling." But then I realized Sheila was asleep on my foot. I stood up and looked out into the family room, and there was Bissell, playing happily with Lizzie. That made me feel so good, because he was so nervous around the other two when he got here.

He's eating better, too. After Sheila lashed out at him, he was very nervous about eating, even with me riding herd on the other two (who are really quite respective of individual bowls, but the unspoken rule is that if you walk away, the food is up for grabs, and Bissell didn't know that). But now he eats well. He also goes out side -- some of the time, so I don't have big puddles as often as with Chunk, who was the doggie equivalent of a Betsy Wetsy doll.

I also decided not to cage him at night. This little guy is literally glued to my body and even if he's sound asleep in my chair, if I move, he moves. So last night I just took him into the living room with me when I went to sleep. He slept on my feet all night and we both felt better for it.

I don't know how long this little guy is going to be here and, truth to tell, he hasn't grabbed my heart the way Chunk did, but he's very sweet and he'll make someone a lovely puppy, when the right person comes along.