Importance of Animals

When younger, James was nervous of animals. They moved quickly and were tough to anticipate. At a young age he was knocked down by an enthusiastic and friendly dog. Animals also made noises that sometimes triggered his anxiety.

I have always had cats, so James grew up with at least one, sometimes two, house cats. Over the years he has slowly gotten used to them, although Mr. B, the cat he's known the longest, used to hide around a corner to jump playfully out at him in surprise. James would inevitably startle, surprising the cat right back. Sometimes, I'd watch them both race through the house, only to surprise each other as they came to the same corner from perpendicular sides, and then streak away at opposing angles.

At school, James made friends with all the therapy dogs, who are usually Prozac in large, placid golden retriever form. I grew up with dogs, and know what it takes to give them a good home. I am not there yet, but it is my hope to someday get James his own companion dog. Someone he can take for walks, brush, and be a calm, friendly anchor in his life.

In the meantime, now that we have our own place again, in the time of COVID-19 lockdown we adopted a rescue kitten. Her fosters named her Pandora, which is actually pretty apt, as she is relentlessly curious, playful, and hell-bent on opening things. I renamed her Sassafras, and call her Princess Sassy. For the kitten and James, it was fascination at first sight. Slowly, he moved to pet her and now even meows at her, with her answering back. Sassy camps out in front of his bedroom door, and takes all opportunities to enter and explore. While this frustrates James, if she goes up on his bed, he is calm and charmed.

Several times, a cranky morning gets turned around by Sassy. He is starting to enjoy feeding both cats kibble, and is even talking to Mr. B, and starting to pet him as well. I have long known that animals can enrich lives. It is so nice to see this happening with James.

Wordless Wednesday: Furry Pals

Yesterday I took James in for an evaluation at the Swain Center. His former caseworker at North Bay Regional Center had heard about James' wonderful social progress with his peers and discovered that he was eligible for a Social Pragmatic Skills course at the ever-fabulous Swain Center.

James remembered coming to the office from years back. He was doing well until some companion dogs came through the office and someone outside fired up a leaf-blower - then he freaked. Those are two things that make him very uncomfortable.

Even though I can tell James *wants* to like animals, their random, independent movement freaks him out. This is how James likes best to interact with animals right now:

For more images that speak volumes and to share some of yours, visit Wordless Wednesday!

First Class Report: Ostriches

James is working on his first class report. The general topic is wild animals and each student picked an animal. James picked ostriches.

His aide and I listened to him read his book and fill out sentences for the draft of his report. I misread the directions so we are a little behind. We've got a trip the library and internet this weekend to discover more interesting things about the largest birds on earth.

We've already taken a real field trip to see live ostriches. People have them on their farms here in Sonoma County and there's one near our house that allows for casual visitors to pull over on the side of the road and say hello (and take pictures):

I've already learned 2 news things -- the female ostriches lay on their eggs during the day and the males take the night shift, and the females look like the photos above. Only the males have black and white feathers.

Pop culture FAIL:

Although I understand the artistic license/reasoning.

It's exciting to have James included in the class oral report project. We'll be working on his poster board next week, practicing his verbal presentation. He's never done anything like this before, so we'll see how it goes.

SOOC Saturday: Fish!

Our daughter got a betta fish this year. She's had it 3 weeks and is worrying because she sees green on her fish's home and the live plant in the bowl is looking shoddy. I am clueless with fish. So we went to Caesar's Tropical Fish emporium, to get the 411 on fish & their plants.

Oh my heavens. It was our first time in the store and the kids went wild. There were 3 rooms in the dark, with walls of tanks and fish lit up and full of exciting action. It was better than paying admission to the Aquarium, because (A) it was free and (B) it was just big enough to take the right amount of time to spice up the day, yet not be long enough to evoke the "I'm tired. Can we go hoooooome?" whines. You can bet your boots I'll be coming back here with the kids when I'm going stir crazy and we need a diverting event.

James adored looking at all the fish. He was fascinated by the whiskery catfish, but their long antennae also freaked him out slightly. The fish that looked like they were lit with neon brought out the biggest smiles to his face. I know he wants a fish. But he's not there yet for being able to take care of one.

 Maybe next year, after I've learned from watching his sister and her fish. But shhhh! Don't tell him I said that!

Closing out 2011 by participating in the SOOC action at Marvelous Mommy's blog.
Come on over to see more or join in!

SOOC Saturday/Sunday: Kid in a Coffee Shop

Isn't it funny how many coffee shops have gone from bastions of college cool to family hangout? Well, for me & my generation, at least.

I was watching James explore our Sunday Peets hang out. They sell licorice barnyard animals. James likes barnyard animal songs, so we were having fun looking at the animals and making animal sounds. I am sure the barristas loved us.

Anyway, the phrase "kids in a candy shop" popped into my mind, and I thought, heck, "kid in a coffee shop" should be the updated version of that!



This is a far cry from the Folgers in a beat-up aluminum coffee pot & toast that my parents used to feast upon Sunday mornings ...
all hail His Muffiness:


The Slurping Life knows how to hold on to love. Visit Melody and check out SOOC Saturday/Sunday entries past & present!



  

Our day at the Fair

My mom came and picked up I & the kids after 10 this morning and we parked early and got in the gates for the Sonoma County Fair before any lines formed. The exhibit halls were not yet open so we went and checked out the animals. We saw cows, goats, and horses. We stopped at the wildlife rescue tables (birds and animals) and checked out the poultry & rabbit cages. They even had a few guinea pigs on display too.

By this time, James wanted to run around, and the llama arena was ideal for that. They had a covered coral/pen area with a little grand stand area (also covered) set up in front of it. So James went around the stands in a circle for about half an hour while my mom & his sister made friends with Lakota, a sweetie of a llama who also sported a nifty hat w/ cutouts for his ears.

We learned lots of things about llamas, like they have no lanolin so their wool is not greasy. Their hairs are hollow on the inside, so even though they have a ton of it, the weight doesn't crush down. People who are allergic to sheep wool are not allergic to llama wool. Llamas have two toes in front and behind that is like a dog's paw. There are many, many, many llamas named "Kuzco." They have to complete an obstacle course while competing at the Nationals; the hair on their backs and torsos are also often shaved for the Nationals, to better show their lines. Americans are breeding llamas to be taller. The National Championships this year will be held in Nebraska (known for it's llamas ... not). While all this knowledge was being absorbed, James inhaled a whole PB&J "samich" and polished off a bottle of water.

Off we went to see the Flower Hall. James had a great time making animal sounds as we went. The theme for this year's Hall of Flowers was a weird one: Red, White, and Blue/Fall in a New England Garden. Yeah .... right. Those two go together like .... never mind. But somehow, it worked, and I ended up liking this the most of the several years I can remember!

I took eeeexactly a gazillion pics and ran down my battery. Some groupings of flowers were amazing -- I could see the fireworks star-burst patterns in the plantings. Others paired rust orange, purple, & golden yellows with the red, white and blue theme. And it worked. I am still trying to understand that. Instead of building up the framework for all the garden displays (fake mountains, pagoda, and buildings everywhere), the feeling was light and airy in the hall, which contributed to a glowing effects all the flowers had (which I adore).

Most of the faux buildings were right up against the hall walls. The exception was a huge covered bridge that crossed over a large, man-made pond and a lighthouse (complete with cottage and garden) on the far end of the pond. I was charmed.

Some of the gardens looked like they could have been sets at Disneyland (high praise indeed) and one went totally bonzo with a winter wonderland (complete w/ Santa sleigh, penguins, snowman, and fake snow and sparkly ice all over).

If you're a SoCo local and haven't seen it, I'd recommend going. That alone was worth $7 for me and I think we were in there with the kids for over half an hour.

Then we got cotton candy for & a snow cone for the kids. My mom went to go check out the amazing kinetic sculpture of San Francisco while they munched. She was so impressed I had to take a look -- it was AWESOME! And the guy who made it was talking about how he did it, while rolling ping-pong balls through it. Check out this video. I love people who make things like this!

And man I was bummed I'd zapped my battery by this time because it was an awesome piece of art!

So then we left about 1pm, and all the lines had formed to get tickets and in the gates. Our parking lot was almost full. There was no traffic going home. OMG, the perfect outing. Now the kids are napping and I am out in the back with Meow (the backyard cat) and coffee (and you). My husband is happy because he had most of yesterday to relax and today to wrassle with the garage; he is napping too.