Friday, January 30, 2015

7 Quick Takes Friday: The Cat is Weird Edition

 

-1-



Looking at this picture that was snapped
when we first got him I have to say...
He has definitely packed on some weight
from all the mice.  He is a much bigger
cat now.
So I'm sitting here with Kittyfish, who I'm beginning to suspect is trying to be creepy in a way only a cat can, by following me everywhere, invading my personal space (not in a cuddly way, which would be okay, but in a here let me get really close and stare at your face, sort of way) and staring at me with his little unblinking yellow eyes. 

I've already gotten up to go check on the baby, and I've been upstairs to check on Patch too, and all seems to be well in the Wollner house, except that apparently we have a cat who has suddenly gone from spending all his time hunting mice in the basement to following me around being weird (and over the course of my lifetime I've had somewhere around 14 cats... so this isn't just a "she's not used to cats" sort of thing). 

Or maybe he's just trying to tell me with those staring yellow eyes that he just took out the last of the five hundred mice that lived here when we got him a year ago and that I never have to worry about anyone scurrying by in the kitchen ever again.

He really has done an amazing job.  I haven't seen a mouse run by in months.  And since I was literally tripping over them last year at this time, despite many different types of traps, that is a huge, huge improvement. 

I guess in light of his mousing abilities I can overlook the weirdness of tonight (like I wasn't going to anyways, even if he was a totally useless mouser)... although I think I'll go check on James one more time. 

-2-

 
I took the girls to their first eye appointment yesterday. 
 
It wasn't the easiest of appointments although the doctor and office staff were great. 
 
Originally Mae's OT was going to come with us, but she's on leave with an emergency at the moment and then we had an exceptionally icy night and all the schools and the therapy center were closed and so the therapist from the ABA center who was going to meet us there had been told not to go out on the roads... so it was just me and the girls. 
 
At least James and Patch were home with Daddy!
 
As a result of the trip I now have a lovely mouth shaped bruise on my arm, but we all survived and made it home in one piece.
 
And the doctor was actually able to look at Mae's eyes (that fact is a testament to how good he is with kids) and he said structurally everything looks good, so if there's a problem (like seeing rainbows around lights) it's a sensory problem and not a structural problem. 
 

-3-

 
So, I've been planning on making a mermaid tail tutorial... if I can ever stay awake at night long enough to actually sew something and photograph it. 
 
The fun that Patch had today, however, should give me the boost I need to start planning a new mermaid (make the Bubble Guppy) tail.  Because he was zooming around wearing this, all afternoon:
 
In case you can't tell in this light, that would be Mae's "Little Mermaid" tail, in purple and green.

-4-

 
We're finding that cooking provides awesome practice for many of the skills that Sadie's been practicing at OT.  And because she' so interested in cooking she's even more motivated to work on those skills than she is when she's actually at the OT office:
 
 

-5-

 
Patch wasn't the only mer-person in the house today.  And in case you'd ever wondered how much trouble Maggie could get into in a mermaid tail... well this is a perfect example of just how capable she is of moving around in it. I managed to snap this while telling her to get down.  She actually was listening to what I'd said from across the room and was getting down (moments earlier she was actually climbing on the gate, which gave me a chance to take this picture!):
 
 
Not to be outdone Sadie got dressed up in her mermaid finery to rest on the couch.  And to zoom around the house and jump on the trampoline.  


 

-6-

 
This is a major, major victory.  After screaming over going anywhere near the bathroom because she was terrified of just about every thing in the bathroom, someone has decided that they love baths again... and that she wants to take a long bath, where she talks about being a mermaid the entire time, at least once a day. 
 
Since taking baths in the sink wasn't going to be an option for much longer as she's getting taller and taller, I'm thrilled with this development.  Besides, it's also a great opportunity for sensory play!




-7-

 
I'm considering adding a new goal to my New Year's Resolution of "get in shape" for the year. 
 
I want to actually run the entire 5K for the Autism Acceptance race in our area this year, instead of coming in almost last place like we did last year (we did beat a few senior citizens... but only because they stopped to look at two deer in the forest... if they hadn't stopped they totally would have crossed the finish line before we did). 
 
That means I have until May to get into 5K shape, which I think is a reasonable time frame. 

Now I just need to motivate myself to go work out when my phone is telling me it "feels like -4" outside! 
 
For more Quick Takes head over to This Ain't the Lyceum

8 comments:

  1. I didn't learn to cook at all until college, so your daughter is way ahead of me! Regarding your 5k, I am all about specific (SMART) goals, so that sounds fantastic. Have you thought about doing something like Couch to 5K? I'm not a runner, but if I were going to be one, that would define me quite neatly and unfortunately.

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    1. I've been thinking about looking in toe the Couch to 5k thing because I hear the name come up so often that it seems like a lot of people use it!

      And I could hardly cook in college too (I think it was mostly spaghetti and hot dogs!) and mostly learned after I was married. She thinks it's hilarious when I tell her that!

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  2. You have plenty of time to get ready for a 5k! You can do it!
    That is great that Sadie is interested in cooking! I didn't learn how to cook until after I was married either.

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    1. Thank you! I hope I can! Now I just need to get up off the couch. I was going to the gym really regularly for a few weeks but it's been so icy and cold out I'm having a hard time making myself leave the house to go after the kids are in bed.

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  3. That Kittyfish! Sometimes though, they really are trying to tell you something. Onetime my cat Moses can up to me and looked at me very intensely, then walked quickly to the basement door, looked back at me, then jumped up on me and looked intensely in my eyes. So I went downstairs to see, and here the water heater had busted and water was gushing all over the floor. Of course, I don't know what Kittyfish is trying to tell you, but you should look around downstairs. And it's really smart to check the kids when the cat is acting that way, because sometimes they're trying to alert you something's wrong.

    So glad you got the girls' eyes checked, and everything is A-OK. Hope it wasn't too much of an ordeal.

    God bless. ~ Bonnie

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    1. Oh my goodness! Thank goodness Moses let you know! Kittyfish did something like that once when some neighborhood cats had busted through a patch over a broken window in the basement and were in the house. I went down there last night but I still haven't figured out what he was trying to tell me. Cats are so funny!

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  4. I'm glad the eye doctors appointment went well! I had a pediatric eye doctor who was great with kids, but I never had a nurse who was really, really good at putting drops in nervous people until I switched to an adult practice. One of the nurses there is awful (really impatient, grabs your arm away) and another one is really, really good at doing it really quickly and distracting you.

    If Maggie is the type of kid where doing something to practice helps, I'd try practicing with regular eye drops (I think they're artificial tears or something) for a while before hand if you know she'll have to get drops.

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    Replies
    1. I always hated the drops! Thankfully they didn't do drops with either of the girls. I don't think it would have been physically possible with Mae, unless she was sedated... because I can only just barely wash her hair and I think she'd be way more upset about eye drops. They sedate her for dentist appointments too.

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