Thing One. (Which is technically two related things.) The kittens have names!
There were several good suggestions, including:
Thelma & Louise (very tempting)
Venus & Serena (if we were sports fans)
Nan & Flossie (can't name a cat after my mother-in-law)
Charlotte & Emily (I know too many toddlers with these names, alas)
Midnight & Snowball (I had a cat named Midnight as a little girl)
LucyFur & Gabriella (can't name a cat after a good friend's daughter - no, not LucyFur)
Glinda & Elphaba (These came close!)
Ophelia & Desdemona (Yes, we were definitely thinking Shakespeare...)
Stella & Maggie (again, a friend's daughter, and also my mom's cat's name)
Salome & Jezebel (oooo, good ones)
Hermione & Cho (I actually wanted to name them Flourish and Blott, after the bookstore in Harry Potter, but, somewhat surprisingly, Thomas nixed it.)
Brian & Setzer (Hmm, boys' names. Interesting idea...)
Dolce & Viva (for international flair)
Salt & Pepper (already taken by a friend's cats)
And various other black-and-white animal and food combinations.
In the end, we picked Antigone and Ismene, the daughters of Oedipus in Greek mythology. Our Reed Humanities 110 professors would be so proud. We're calling them Tiggy and Mene (or Izzy, we'll see what sticks) for short.
Here is Ismene, the runt, checking out the train table.
And this is Antigone.
They are wonderful, lovey kitties. Meow!!
Thing Two. Going to the dentist can be fun. Due to the many sensory issues Elliot has surrounding his mouth, we had not yet taken him, now nearly 5 years old, to the dentist. I just couldn't imagine how it would be successful, on several levels. How would they get him to sit still, open his mouth, and let them put things in it? It seemed impossible, or at the very least traumatic. But Elliot has been complaining of mouth pain these past couple of weeks, and a friend recommended Dr. Allan Pike. As my friend puts it, he is the Mr. Rogers of the dental world. And this turns out to be exactly true.
Dr. Pike's philosophy of pediatric dentistry is "no force, no pain". He believes that it's not the teeth that are the most important thing, but rather that the child develop a positive association with going to the dentist, leading to life-long dental health. Our experience in Dr. Pike's office this morning was amazing. He works with many kids on the autism spectrum, and his many years of experience figuring out what works best is immediately apparent. He spent an hour with us, showing us the office (which includes a "cartoon room" for when kids need a break and some gerbils which Elliot got to feed), the flat tables instead of scary motorized chairs, and the one big room that houses all the stations so the kids can all see each other. The hygienist worked with Elliot while I talked to Dr. Pike, and she was able to clean his teeth with a toothbrush, floss, and give him a fluoride treatment.
Unfortunately, Elliot has four cavities (he is apparently very prone to developing them, and we'll be cutting out sweets and fruit leather). Dr. Pike assessed Elliot just by looking in his mouth - no scary x-rays. Then they did a "trial run" of a filling, using laughing gas and going through the motions of giving him an injection and putting the drill in his mouth. He didn't protest one bit. We'll be going back next week for the actual fillings, so I'll keep you posted! I'm so thankful to have found such a compassionate, understanding, and dedicated dentist.
Thing Three. Yesterday, a right-wing radio host, Michael Savage, spent his show basically calling autism a fraud. The controversy around the show has been immense. As a wise friend tells me, though, that's just what this nut job wants - he thrives on negative attention - and why should we spend our valuable time being angry with someone so clearly insensitive and wrong, thereby giving him the power he craves? On the up side, the controversy led one of our local news stations, KOIN 6, to come to Elliot's school (School of Autism) today to interview teachers and parents about how they feel about Savage's comments. Hopefully the piece, which will air on the 5pm news today, will be good publicity for the school and the autism community and not just more attention for a despicable human being. If the story shows up on their website, I'll post a link to it tomorrow.
Who knew that dentists could be nicer human beings than radio hosts? Though I think the kittens take the top prize today for most fun to be around!
There were several good suggestions, including:
Thelma & Louise (very tempting)
Venus & Serena (if we were sports fans)
Nan & Flossie (can't name a cat after my mother-in-law)
Charlotte & Emily (I know too many toddlers with these names, alas)
Midnight & Snowball (I had a cat named Midnight as a little girl)
LucyFur & Gabriella (can't name a cat after a good friend's daughter - no, not LucyFur)
Glinda & Elphaba (These came close!)
Ophelia & Desdemona (Yes, we were definitely thinking Shakespeare...)
Stella & Maggie (again, a friend's daughter, and also my mom's cat's name)
Salome & Jezebel (oooo, good ones)
Hermione & Cho (I actually wanted to name them Flourish and Blott, after the bookstore in Harry Potter, but, somewhat surprisingly, Thomas nixed it.)
Brian & Setzer (Hmm, boys' names. Interesting idea...)
Dolce & Viva (for international flair)
Salt & Pepper (already taken by a friend's cats)
And various other black-and-white animal and food combinations.
In the end, we picked Antigone and Ismene, the daughters of Oedipus in Greek mythology. Our Reed Humanities 110 professors would be so proud. We're calling them Tiggy and Mene (or Izzy, we'll see what sticks) for short.
Here is Ismene, the runt, checking out the train table.
And this is Antigone.
They are wonderful, lovey kitties. Meow!!
Thing Two. Going to the dentist can be fun. Due to the many sensory issues Elliot has surrounding his mouth, we had not yet taken him, now nearly 5 years old, to the dentist. I just couldn't imagine how it would be successful, on several levels. How would they get him to sit still, open his mouth, and let them put things in it? It seemed impossible, or at the very least traumatic. But Elliot has been complaining of mouth pain these past couple of weeks, and a friend recommended Dr. Allan Pike. As my friend puts it, he is the Mr. Rogers of the dental world. And this turns out to be exactly true.
Dr. Pike's philosophy of pediatric dentistry is "no force, no pain". He believes that it's not the teeth that are the most important thing, but rather that the child develop a positive association with going to the dentist, leading to life-long dental health. Our experience in Dr. Pike's office this morning was amazing. He works with many kids on the autism spectrum, and his many years of experience figuring out what works best is immediately apparent. He spent an hour with us, showing us the office (which includes a "cartoon room" for when kids need a break and some gerbils which Elliot got to feed), the flat tables instead of scary motorized chairs, and the one big room that houses all the stations so the kids can all see each other. The hygienist worked with Elliot while I talked to Dr. Pike, and she was able to clean his teeth with a toothbrush, floss, and give him a fluoride treatment.
Unfortunately, Elliot has four cavities (he is apparently very prone to developing them, and we'll be cutting out sweets and fruit leather). Dr. Pike assessed Elliot just by looking in his mouth - no scary x-rays. Then they did a "trial run" of a filling, using laughing gas and going through the motions of giving him an injection and putting the drill in his mouth. He didn't protest one bit. We'll be going back next week for the actual fillings, so I'll keep you posted! I'm so thankful to have found such a compassionate, understanding, and dedicated dentist.
Thing Three. Yesterday, a right-wing radio host, Michael Savage, spent his show basically calling autism a fraud. The controversy around the show has been immense. As a wise friend tells me, though, that's just what this nut job wants - he thrives on negative attention - and why should we spend our valuable time being angry with someone so clearly insensitive and wrong, thereby giving him the power he craves? On the up side, the controversy led one of our local news stations, KOIN 6, to come to Elliot's school (School of Autism) today to interview teachers and parents about how they feel about Savage's comments. Hopefully the piece, which will air on the 5pm news today, will be good publicity for the school and the autism community and not just more attention for a despicable human being. If the story shows up on their website, I'll post a link to it tomorrow.
Who knew that dentists could be nicer human beings than radio hosts? Though I think the kittens take the top prize today for most fun to be around!
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