To the Dogs

I'm an animal person. My very first job as a teenager was cleaning out kennels at a veterinary clinic, and I loved it. As a kid, I rescued strays (well, I still do that) and created a pet cemetery in our backyard for our ridiculous amount of pets - hamsters, rats, gerbils, guinea pigs, newts, snakes, fish, and birds (the dog and cats are not buried there). And anyone who knows me knows that I'm also a cat person (and am probably bound to end up as a crazy cat lady in my old age). But despite my love of animals, I'm not a dog person, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

I like that cats, for the most part, take care of themselves, and they don't mind if you take off for a week and leave them with a bowl of food and the toilet open. They purr and kill the mice in the garage (and the house). Dogs, on the other hand, are just way too high maintenance for me. They leave piles of poop all over the yard for you to step in, are always following you around or getting up in your face (I already have two children who do that, thank you very much), they bark and whine if you leave them for a few hours (I have two children who do that, too), and you have to plan ahead if you want to skip town for the weekend without them. Plus they trash hardwood floors.

So I'm a cat person. I've decided that cat people know cats are cats, and that's why we love them. Dog people (and I know and love many of you!) think dogs are people (a la dressing them up in knit sweaters and taking them to the doggie spa). I have a fondness for Cesar Millan (yes, that's the Dog Whisperer) precisely because he's a dog person who knows dogs are dogs, and he loves them for it. (Though I will admit that I loved my childhood poodle-mutt-dog, Mops, and I fell in love with a co-worker's rat terrier, Fred, at my last job. I even let him lick my face - the dog, not the coworker- and that ought to tell you something!)

All that aside, I wanted to officially say a fond farewell to our dog, Oscar. We got Oscar back in 2000, and most of you know that within a year he got hit by a car, which dislocated his back hip and paralyzed his front leg. He was a great dog. He was super smart and could do dozens of cool tricks. And despite the fact that he drove me crazy following me around and barking if we left him out in the yard, I kind of liked him. When I got pregnant with Imogen and we moved to the new house, we decided to find Oscar a home with someone who could give him more attention than we could and who didn't have small children, since the pain in his hip (which developed arthritis) often made him ornery. The last couple of years, he lived with Thomas's former paralegal, her partner, their preteen daughter, and another dog. He was happy. We found out recently that they had to make the heartbreaking decision to put Oscar down after he bit a couple of people, including a young child, when they accidentally touched his hip. He was in a lot of pain. We'll miss you, good buddy.


In unrelated dog news, our gorgeous dogwood tree is in full bloom.


Hooray for Portland in the springtime!

Hyperlexia Journal is Online!

I hope y'all will take a few minutes to check out the first issue of Hyperlexia, an online journal of poetry and prose celebrating the autism spectrum. My good friend Kerry founded the journal with her friend Phoebe, and they invited me to be the poetry editor. We received a wonderful batch of submissions for our first issue, which has just gone live in time for National Autism Awareness Month. Let me know what you think!


Though today we're back to our usual April weather of 50s, sunbreaks, and rain showers, we had 85 degree weather earlier this week. The kids and I took advantage of the unseasonal sunshine to head for McCoy Park near Elliot's school. Here are a couple of shots of the fun that was had.


This is also my own personal Happy Birthday to Everyone Week! I know more people with birthdays this week than any other week of the year (although the last 2 weeks of September are a close second!). So, happy birthday to Soren, Tanner, Milo (all today!), Erin, Christina (Saturday), Lisa, Christine, and Matt (Sunday). Maybe Connie and Russ will add to this week's birthdays - their baby is due 4/30 - but I'm betting on the full moon on 5/9. What better gift for Mother's Day than a new wee one? I plan to spend Mother's Day weekend painting our currently purple bathroom, sans kids! Stay tuned!

Honey Bunnies

I'm a busy bee these days, mostly preparing for the new job and working on the Soapstone raffle. So please forgive the lack of blogging! But today Thomas has ventured off with both kids while I catch up on all things Soapstone, household, and writing-related.

First up, Imogen turned 19 months old this week. She is talking constantly these days, especially to Elliot. She calls him "brother", repeats anything he says to her, and brings him all sorts of toys to get his opinion. She also is a delightfully willful child (we'll see how I feel about this when she's a teenager), dramatically expressing her wants and desires. Here are this month's sibling comparison photos.


Last weekend, we had a wonderful time at Fez & Christine's 6th annual Easter party. The kids haven't figured it out yet, but Thomas has been playing the Easter bunny at this party since it began. Imogen was scared to death of the giant pink rabbit, but Elliot jumped around him with joy the entire time.


The kids had a great time hunting for Easter eggs and eating delicious treats. And of course showing off their dapper Easter duds.


And here's a rare shot of yours truly!

Now, alas, it's back to work! And then out to enjoy the gorgeous sunshine that is supposed to stick around all week (nanny nanny, boo boo you Coloradans!).

National Autism Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month. It's also National Autism Awareness Month. Last year, I spent the month of April posting about autism issues that affect our family as well as sharing some of my poetry about raising a child on the autism spectrum. Today I thought I'd share another one of my autism poems with you. This one is from a couple of years ago - I have to get my act together and write some poems about what things are like for us now!

Sensory Profile

i

I could pretend I know

what you’re thinking when

you’re spinning wheels, your eyes

intent on the turning, your body

remarkably still. Or spinning

yourself, never dizzying, eyes

tuned to the whirl of the room. You

are running now, back and forth,

circling, colliding your quick

little body over and over into

my body, or any soft thing.

ii

The way you are immobilized

if I remove your shoes on the lawn.

How you hold out your hands

for me to brush off the sand, every grain

too overwhelming to touch.

How this food is not warm enough,

that one is too slimy, this one

is not a perfect rectangle. You melt

before my eyes, we rock and sing,

rock and sing, rock and sing.

iii

My driver’s window opening is acceptable –

fresh air. Your back window opening

sends you panicking like a trapped bird.

Your eyes widen and tear, you try

to lean away in your car seat. You are quiet,

terrified, eye of a storm about to shift.

But then the streetlamps set your eyes

steady, focused. You center and lean

into their glow, their simple illumination

of what a moment ago we couldn’t see,

what gradually moves into our view.

iv

How you love to cross bridges.

Vibration of the steel under the car, lights

in neat, bright lines, the river beneath

a soft rushing, the bridge lifting us

to safe architecture of air. You love

the ones with perfect angles and x’s.

Those lit like a ladder of stars.

And the kind that were built improbably.

Lowered whole from the sky.

-Brittney Corrigan, copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

As many of you know, Elliot's main interest these days is still elevators. But instead of insisting that we pretend every doorway is an elevator when we move from room to room the way he did a couple of years ago, now he is very creative with his "elevator games," setting up elaborate elevator panels made from numbered blocks and complete with sound effects from his keyboard when the elevator arrives on each floor. He still goes on "elevator adventures" with Papa every weekend, as well. Here he is last weekend having a quiet moment on the Portland Aerial Tram to OHSU (the elevator at OHSU has 14 floors!).


Elliot also loves to draw pictures of elevators and people riding them, as you can see in this picture he drew this morning.


And I'll leave you today with these pictures of the kiddos enjoying the warm, sunny weather we had the last few days (we're back to rain tomorrow, alas!).


Gotta go. I've been instructed by Elliot that it's time to ride the elevator to the first floor!

Ya Gotta Love People

People are so darn crazy sometimes, you just have to appreciate your silly fellow humans. Two examples from the past few days:

1. The kids and I were sitting in the car in the parking lot of Walgreen's , waiting for Mr. Vic Victor to get a prescription. As I was sitting there, I caught sight in my side view mirror, which had a view of the New Season's parking lot behind me, of a woman standing at the trunk of her car holding a pink hula hoop. She was probably around 60, with bright pink socks peeking out from under her long coat. She didn't appear to be waiting for anyone, or with anyone, or to otherwise have any reason to be hanging out at the back of her car in a crowded parking lot after loading up her groceries. She proceeded to slip the hula hoop over her head and attempt to swivel it with her hips, probably 3-4 times. She then tossed the hoop to the row of cars across from her and tossed her keys into it like she was playing lawn darts. Then she retrieved the hoop and put it into the back of her car with her groceries. It made my day.

2. When I drive Elliot to school, he likes to detour around the park on the way. Yesterday, while driving along the back side of the park, I noticed a man up ahead who had pulled his car to the side of the park and was unloading a large cage from the back. As we got closer, I could see that the cage was full of squirrels. I can only assume he had trapped them in his yard. (Can you really keep squirrels from hanging out in your yard? Futile, me thinks!) As we drove past, he lifted the door on the cage, and the squirrels went darting into the park. I hope they made friends and were accepted in their new neighborhood. And I've been left to wonder, what kind of person is bothered enough by squirrels in his yard that he wants to get rid of them, and yet soft-hearted enough to spend the time trapping them, driving them to a park, and releasing them to a "better" life?

And speaking of funny humans, I leave you with Miss Imogen modeling her new hat I picked up at the consignment sale last weekend for two bucks (and where I spent 1 1/2 hours in line - now who's the crazy one?).


Happy out like a lamb day (though we're getting plenty of rain here today - but the yard is abloom with daffodils, crocuses, camellia, and plum blossoms).

A Very Merry Half-Birthday

Imogen turned 18 months old last weekend. She's a little chatterbox these days, and even people outside of the family are starting to understand what she has to say. She makes animal noises and copies words Elliot says to her. She's also a good little helper, remembering where she stashed items she made off with when I wasn't looking and retrieving them for me when I ask.

So here are this month's sibling comparison photos - Elliot and Imogen each at one and a half years old.

In other news, if you haven't heard through the grapevine already, I have just been hired as the next Executive Director of Soapstone, a women's writing retreat near the Oregon coast. It's my dream job - part time from home, and for an organization I care deeply about - and I'm just thrilled. I'll be starting on June 15. Until then, I'll be getting up to speed on some aspects of the job and running the organization's summer raffle. If you have an item you'd like to donate to the raffle, please let me know (it's tax-deductible!). And I'll let you know when you can buy tickets!

Now back to the kiddos! We're at the end of spring break and everyone's glad school is starting back up tomorrow!

Emerald City Girls

Imogen, who is eating Fritos with apple yogurt as I write this, experienced her third girls' weekend in Seattle last weekend. This time, we were also joined by Tess's practically-daughter, Emilie. And even though the weather was completely dreadful, including snow, wind, rain, and near-freezing temperatures, we still had a fantastic time.

First up, the now-traditional photo of Imogen with the Space Needle (you can see the pictures from the previous two trips here and here - notice that she's wearing the same hat at 6 months, 13 months, and 18 months - such a petite thing!).


We also had Grayson's velociraptor along with us again, and so of course we had to photograph him all over Seattle. First up, here he is having some ice cream with Imogen at the Cold Stone Creamery.


And here he is visiting Pike Place Market.



And of course he had to try on some shoes at Nordstrom's.


And here he is on our last morning in town, posing with the super nice guy from The Crumpet Shop.


Last up, here I am with Emilie and Tess (Imogen is riding on my back, even though she didn't make it into the picture), posing outside the yummy donut shop by our hotel (yummmmm, donuts!).


We're already looking forward to our next trip! And stay tuned in the next couple of days for the 18-month sibling comparison photos. Happy spring!