Busy Busy Busy Week!!!

This week has been super BUSY!  Lets see....

Tuesday we had lunch with my mother and sister at one of my favorite Thai restaurants.  Saiya loves grilled chicken, so she gobbled up lots of rice and terriaki chicken.  She loved it!  After lunch, we headed over to the Social Security Administration building to see if we could get a receipt of application for Saiya's social security card for Chris's work so that we could get all the insurance stuff squared away.  We were kind of on a time line as we needed to have her school physical done this week.  Well, by the time we got there, the line was way too long.  We had to leave because we promised to pick up my niece and nephew from school.  So we made plans to head back there wednesday morning bright and early.

Wednesday we woke up early and headed to the Social Security Administration building to talk to someone about Saiya's social security number.  At this point I am completely put out that we even need one for the stupid insurance, but we are at their mercy.  After about 40 minutes of waiting, we get to speak to someone about her social security card.  There was no record yet that we filed for one, which means that our paperwork from the American Consulate in China has not been processed yet.  We had the option of applying for a new one, but I dont want her to end up with two SSN's so we refrained.  The Social Security lady said that we could head down to the IRS building and get an ATIN number which might be sufficient for our needs.

So we headed to the IRS building and waited in line again.  After about 20 minutes, we spoke to the IRS guy and he told us that ATIN numbers were distributed through Austin, TX and would take up to four weeks to process.  We said forget it!  Completely frustrated at this point, we headed back to Chris's work to speak to someone else who might have a clue as to why, exactly, they need a SSN for a 4 year old.  At this point I wanted to march up there and give someone a piece of my mind.  Good thing Chris is a little more level headed than me.  He spoke with the head of the HR department who said not having the SSN should not be an issue and that she would speak to the insurance company for us.  As he was upstairs talking with HR, I called my sister to find out how she got her kids' school physicals done.  Apparently, you can take your child to almost any clinic, tell them it is for a school physical, pay $50 and BOOM! done.  No insurance needed, or even asked for...  Might have been nice to know that two days ago.

We took Saiya to a clinic, got the school physical done, headed to the Brevard County Health Department to have her vaccination records recorded on the blue form needed for school, and then headed to a late lunch quite satisfied with a VERY productive day.  After lunch, I took Chris home and took Saiya to play with her cousins at the park.  She did great!  She didnt really care for the swings, but really took to the slides and the monkey bars!  I'm so glad she is finally beginning to play!

Thursday was just as busy as wednesday.  We decided to change Saiya to the VPK class at her school, which meant that we would need to registration form from the Early Learning Coalition.  So we headed up to Rockledge to the Early Learning Coalition to file her birth certificate with the state and get the registration form.  Then we headed all the way back to Palm Bay and stopped by her school for a few minutes to drop off the paperwork and visit with the VPK teachers.  After that, we headed home.

Friday was Chris's first full day with Saiya without me.  I had a cosulting job in Orange City, so I left before they both woke up.  Poor Chris caught my cold, so he was not feeling well, but still managed to avoid a complete melt down for the entire day.  Good Job Daddy!  We had a really nice dinner with both of our families.  Saiya got to spend a little bit more time with both sets of grandparents, although I got the feeling she would rather have played with the other kids.  I felt a little guilty, but we left about 8:30.  Poor Saiya was very tired and we didnt want a meltdown before bed.  To my utter shock and surprise, she spent the whole car trip singing to herself (she didnt fall asleep, which was a miracle) and we changed her and she happily went off to bed about 9:15.  I was in total shock she wasnt a grumpy-pants.  No tears.  Nothing!  Just a happy, "good night Mama!"  Well, then!

Today we had plans to take Saiya out on a friend's boat.  The boat wasnt working, so we settled for the beach instead.  Saiya did great!  As we were driving along US1, she kept pointing at the river with wide eyes asking me what it was.  When we finally got to the beach, she was in awe.  She didnt know what to make of the sand between her toes and she kept playing with it, wiggling her toes and making holes with her feet.  We took her down to the water and I tried to put her down as a wave came in.  The water was only up to my ankles, but she struggled to stay in my arms with a death-grip on my wrist.  When I finally managed to put her down, she stood there until a wave crashed in and then started to scream and claw her way back into my arms.  I scooped her up and took her to the area where we were sitting and let her play in the sand.  She was content to play in the sand until her cousins went down to the water and she got bored of playing by herself.  She started to collect seashells near where the water was coming in and then let loose and went running with her cousins, splashing through the waves.  She had a bucket she kept trying to fill with water, but she would just throw it at the waves and run the other way.  It was super funny!  I'm glad that she finally lost her fear of the water.  At least until she got knocked over by an incoming wave and went head-first into the sand.  At that point, she was done with the water.  It was late anyway, so we decided to leave.  She did have a blast though!

We will try the boat again tomorrow.