We are the crazy neighbors

Yesterday afternoon Maya & I took Parker to the dog park.  We marveled at the tree limbs that came down during the hurricane (I tweeted one of these pics yesterday, so if you follow me on Twitter @UncommonBlogger it probably looks familiar):

Dave met us there after work, and after leaving the park we decided to divide and conquer---- I took Maya to the grocery store and he took Parker to go pick up a pizza (BBQ chicken, my favorite).  We met again outside of our building and clumsily loaded into the elevator---Dave, Maya, me, Parker, a few bags of groceries, a pizza, and Dave's bags from school.   We got to our floor, and in the door, and I busied myself in putting away the groceries while Dave got Maya into her seat for dinner.  Pizza & salad served, we were sitting and eating and talking . . . . and then the doorbell rang.

We exchanged puzzled glances and Dave got up to open the door . . . I was ready to hear our across-the-hall neighbors scold us (once again) for leaving our keys in the door (which I do about once a month, and I feel like an idiot every time). 

As it turned out, this time we didn't forget our keys.



We forgot our dog.



Oops.


The door opened and Parker wandered in (with his leash still on) and the neighbor had a confused conversation with Dave (who was equally confused).  In my Parker training, I taught him not to bound through doorways (which is important, since I usually walk him and the stroller together, and I don't want to get pulled around).  I guess in our confusion, neither one of us noticed that Parker was sitting and waiting for us to say "Ok, come on in, Parker".  

The neighbor told us that he was just sitting by the elevator.  She got out and he looked at her and kept waiting, and she thought maybe she should bring him to us and see what's going on.

After she left, Dave said "Seriously, what would we think if we had neighbors who regularly left their keys in the door, and then one night we came home to see their pet roaming the hallway?  We would think that they were totally nuts.  They would be 'the crazy neighbors'."

So, I guess that's us. 

Sorry, Parker.

Here we come, walking down the street (for real!)*

Back in November I had a similarly titled post, in which Maya got to "walk" Parker from her stroller.  It was very cute. (Parker looks so much smaller in that video, by the way.)

But you know what's cuter than that?

Maya really walking Parker.  She's on her 2 feet, he's on his 4 feet, and she's in charge (for better or worse).  (Parker is clearly not convinced that we're actually letting her be in charge.  He keeps shooting me glances like, "Really?  Just stick totally with her?  You don't want me to heel to you?")



Although Maya seemed pretty confident that she could open the door herself, I thought I should help her out.  So here we were after we made it inside:  (This one is long, but there are many cute moments, so I'm not cutting it down.)



The best parts:
0:30, when she sits at the window and kicks up her feet.  Too cute.
0:40, when she calls Parker because he's starting to wander off.  Show him who's in charge!
0:45, when I tell her to tell Parker to sit, and she stands up and holds up 1 finger---that's our "sit" signal :)
0:51, when she suddenly decides that it's time to move along (because, as it turns out, she remembered that on the walk home we told her we would get the mail when we got home)
1:26, because falling down is no big deal.
1:42, when she's just pulling him along on an adventure, and the size comparison of him walking behind her makes it look like she's leading a pony out to a field somewhere.

I guess the whole thing is pretty darn adorable :)

A girl and her dog

Two cute Maya & Parker moments from the past week:

Maya's eating has been bad again.  Combine poor eating skills with the terrible two's (or 3's) and we've had some projectile food recently.  And when you have projectiles, you sometimes have casualties:

Is Maya evilly rubbing her hands together?

 Direct hit!  There's a meatball chunk right next to Parker's body (and some ketchup on him, although you can't see it) . . . and another meatball chunk about a foot away.

I'm not allowed to eat it, so I might as well go back to sleep.

And a day or two later . . . 

Mommy, this is my doggie!

Parker, I have to tell you a secret.

Ok, now you tell me a secret!

A kiss for my buddy.

And a snuggle, too.

Did you see our big giveaway?!  Enter, enter, enter!  You can have up to 4 entries.  Even if you're not a parent of a child with special needs, you may know someone (a parent, a teacher, a therapist, etc) who would love to receive a thoughtful gift.  (If you don't feel comfortable entering on their behalf, send along the link!)

Any other questions for me?  I've gotten several and will likely be writing the post later this week.

Oh brother

Try real hard to remember back to 8th grade.   At my (tiny) elementary/middle school, I graduated 8th grade in a class of 17 (I can still name every one of them---and a bunch are Facebook friends, who might even be reading this---so shoutout to my class of '93 8th grade grads!).  We were the top dogs, and felt like the coolest kids around.  Maybe you were the *best* something in 8th grade---the best singer in your class, the fastest runner, the funniest.

And then you went to high school.

And suddenyl you're a very little fish in a very big pond.

That was therapy dog class tonight.  Sigh.

If you've hung out with Parker, you know that he's a great dog.  We've worked really hard with him, and he does so many amazing things:

-He will lay down and stay at the playground, as little kids run past within an inch of his nose.
-He will whimper and look at me with big eyes---but not move or snap or growl or scratch---when Maya grabs a handful of fur.
-He will gallop floppily to Maya and eagerly lick her face when I say "Parker!  Where's Maya?!?"
-He puts himself to bed
-He will wait forever if I put food in front of him and say "Leave it"
-etc

But---he wants, more than life itself, to play with other dogs.  Just desperately wants to frolick with them in puppy madness.  At 7 months, he was the youngest pup there by far---and his puppy "Dogs! Dogs! Hey, you dogs!  I need to play with you I'm right here will someone look at me I can't stand it I'm all alone!"ness it the biggest challenge we're going to face.

He did great with the one-on-one stuff---the trainer and her volunteer could pull on his paws, stick fingers in his mouth, etc etc---no problem.  He took treats gently.  He sat and stayed.  But he whimpered, wiggled, and tried to play with the other dogs as they walked by----so embarassing!

I thought we were at the top of our game. 

Sigh.

We have a lot lot lot lot of work to do.  We might not pass this round of classes, I fear.  He might just need to be older to gain more of the self control.  

I need to look at it like a challenge, dust myself off, and tackle it tomorrow.  But puppy training is really hard work with a toddler in tow.  Throw in a toddler who needs constant physical support, and how can I manage it?  How can I do our homework --- "find strangers and get them to approach your dog to pet him while you kneel next to him"----while holding a wiggling Maya, or having her sit in the stroller (yelling) to watch?

I thought we were a lot further along this training road than we actually are.  And it's both daunting and annoying.  Argh.

Fetch!

We unleashed Parker (literally) for the first time at the baseball field last night.  Typically, he's only been off leash in the dog run, but he's pretty obedient and Dave has been itching to play fetch in a big field :)  We made sure that there were no dogs, squirrels, or people around, and then the playing began:

Parker sits and waits . . .

And then he runs like the wind . . .

                                And pounces . . .

SUCCESS!

Other times were not as successful, as Dave had to lead Parker to the ball . . .

Or just give up on Parker entirely, and fetch the ball himself . . .

Parker has an evaluation tomorrow!

I'm beat and don't have much of an update in me . . . but my mom now has a working laptop in the hospital, and I don't want to hear any crap from her about not updating, so here you go: (Love you, mom!  Keep feeling better :) )


Tomorrow afternoon at 1:45 (send us good vibes) Parker & I will be meeting with a dog trainer for a large therapy dog organization in the greater NYC area :) 

His temperament & basic obedience will be evaluated to see if he would make a good therapy dog, and if we're a good team. (I think we are.)  If he passes we'll find out about attending the therapy dog classes, and what the therapy dog commitment would be (if seems like it will be an hour per month of volunteer work). 

We took him to IKEA with us today, here are 2 pictures:

You know you're a fan. Let's make if Facebook official :)

Alright, everybody, LISTEN UP!

We've started a "Fan Page" on Facebook for the blog.  It's called "Uncommon Sense Blog" and you can become a fan just by clicking on that little button on the upper right side of this page.

Why become a fan?  Here's the thing . . .  it takes some time to put a blog post together.  I have to upload pictures, weed through them, upload them to blogger and move them around.  Then type something up, hopefully something entertaining, and post.

Facebook updates?  They take no time at all.  A few seconds, maybe.  The storage space for pictures is unlimited, so I can upload a lot more stuff (and faster, too!).  Random silly stuff happens to us all the time, and Dave says "You should blog about that!" but I never have time, or it wouldn't make for a full posting . . . this is the stuff that I'll throw up on the fan page.

Examples: 
-There is a mockingbird a few blocks away who sings a car alarm, like the full sequence.  It's awesome.
-Dave wore his shorts inside out to the park today, and then took 7 minutes to fold (and refold, and refold) our picnic blanket that zips up, causing me to laugh so hard that I fell over (literally)
-We may have broken up a marriage by misdialing a phone number 2 days ago (longish story)

Plus, maybe we'll have some heated debates about things----I'm going to start collecting cans and bottles from around the 'dale to start cashing in for $?  Any feelings about that?  Think I'm turning into a bag lady (or a genius?)?   All this and more will be on the FB fan page.

Dave says that I can't get out of the blogging cage until I get some serious fans, so please start "liking" us.  You know, officially. 

In other news, Parker has added this chair to his repetoire of favorite places to sit.  I can't wait until he starts falling out of it . . . which, from the looks of things, should be any day now:

Oh, Maya's making such great progress in feeding therapy that we're now having her eat dog food:

(Actually, the pic on the left was a training excerise to have Parker learn that if Maya wasnts to play with his food that's too bad for him, and he needs to back off and wait.  And the pic on the right?  Well, what can I say.  (Ok, for real, the bag was closed---it was just a funny picture---don't send hate mail!))

Happy Father's Day!

To all the dads out there (including my own--Happy Father's Day, Dad!) Happy Father's Day!  Dave got cards this morning from Maya & Parker, and we celebrated with a ridiculous shopping trip.  For $2.16, we got all of this stuff (at the Container Store, Williams & Sonoma, Athlete's foot, and Gymboree).  Woo hoo!  (We had "free dollars", a gift card, and 2 exchanges.)  It was awesome.

(that's a pink toddler chair, 2 storage containers, one pair of Crocs, a t-shirt from Gymboree, and a Calphalon 10" pan)

It was also Parker's first trip to the Container Store, and the mall.  Earlier this week I summoned my best "fake it til you make it" courage and took him in to the bank and the post office here in the neighborhood.  Although the lady at the post office initially jumped off her stool to call out "Ma'am, ma'am, you need to get that dog out.  There are no dogs in here!"  I calmly replied "He's a service animal.  He has his vest on."  (Legally, the dog isn't even required to wear a vest, but it certainly helps make things easier) And she quickly said "Oh, I'm so sorry.  How can I help you?" 

(it says "Service Dog in Training")

The mall was pretty similar.  A security guard, trailed by the head of security (both with walkie talkies) were on us after we were in the mall for about 1.5 minutes.  They asked me to remove the dog, but after I explained and they saw the vest they pleasantly left (and they must have radio'd out to everyone else, because no other security spoke to us).  At Williams & Sonoma we went through it again.  We also got many interested looks, and served as quite the conversation starter for the people we walked by. 

Parker was a champ.  He was nervous and wanted to walk slowly, but some gentle reminder tugs got him to keep pace.  He did fine in all of the stores, and even the food court.

I'm having a hard time not feeling like a total imposter when we bring him out.  Since we've only done this twice, I'm assuming that I'll get used to it eventually.  My philosophical issue with it boils down to this:  He's not really helping us yet.  He's not "serving" or "working" when we're at the mall.  And I'm still not sure what needs/functions he will be trained to help Maya with, since we don't know what the scope of her delays/disabilities will be. 

However, if we don't start acclimating him to these situations early, then it will become much more difficult to do as time passes.  And since we want him to pass the public access test, he needs exposure and habituation to as many scenarios as possible.  While shopping today, he had his first exposures to: shopping carts, racks of clothes, smells of stores (think of all of the smells at the mall!), a parking garage, smells/sounds of a food court, iron food court chairs shaking and sliding on the ground, waiting in checkout lines, walking past walls of glass windows where he kept seeing our reflection, echos, larger elevators, etc.  There's no way that I can mimic that without bringing him out. 

I think I'll feel better about it when we start working on more service-y things.  Soon, hopefully.  Obedience stuff is progressing really well.  Tomorrow he's going to his first bbq (thanks for welcoming him, Sarita!) :)

To finish this off, a salute to Dave.  A fantastic dad, who loves to spend time with Miss Maya, and does the not-so-fun stuff (like diaper changes and difficult feedings) with the same enthusiasm that he does the fun stuff (like swimming, tickling, and making up silly songs).  He's the best.  Even though sometimes he doesn't know his own strength:

From Parker

Parker spends his days doing very exciting things, and thought that you might like to take a look . . .

He helps me move things down to storage . . .

Lady, I'm not pushing this thing.

He watches TV. 

(No joke, I was cleaning the floor and looked over and saw him like this.  He freakin' loves The Dog Whisperer.  I couldn't make this stuff up.)

 

He's not allowed to eat from the table . . .

But we take him out to hit the bar scene:

Oh, and he's getting bigger, bigger, bigger:

5.24:                                                                                6.17:

And here's some live action footage of Maya & Parker sharing a squirrel (it's not as gruesome as it sounds):

Uncommon Sense, the title

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a title :)

If you've been here since the beginning (that would probably make you my mom, or sister), this blog started as a pregnancy tracker, and a place to put pictures upon the baby's arrival.  Back then it was called "Our Growing Family" and was a simple place to update friends and family who were far away.

Sometime after Maya's arrival I changed the title to "Stuff from Us", since we were no longer a growing family.  When that seemed too mundane, it changed to "Who reads the title, anyway?" which was a fitting summary of my mild frustration at not being able to sum us up in a neat little title. 

Saturday, inspiration struck.

Dave has mentioned to me that when I work with Parker, things cross my mind that he wouldn't ever think to do (it's not that I'm brilliant, he's just never had a dog before, and I have good animal intuition).  I've asked him to point this out as it's happening---show me what he's talking about.  So Saturday afternoon, we decided to take Maya out on her bike, and I wanted Parker to walk close to her.  Kind of like this:

But sometimes hanging out changes to touching . . .

And sometimes touching changes to grabbing . . . (which is not cool)

(Grabbing is rare, but when it happens I think 3 things need to happen instantly.  1.  Parker needs to stay still, and trust that I won't let him get hurt.  He can't address the situation, he needs to let me.  2.  I need to respond immediately to get Maya to let go.  3.  Maya needs to realize that grabbing is not funny or a game, and practice petting gently.)

Anyway, we paused on our walk, and  Maya was petting Parker so nicely---but then grabbed.  I got her to let go, Parker ran behind me, and Dave was about to start walking again.  I stopped him and said that Parker needed to stand next to Maya and relax, Maya needed to pet him nicely, and we needed to give him some treats---otherwise Parker would think that if a kid grabs him the best thing to do is run away, and then we'll move on.  

Dave said "See!  That's it!  I would never think to do that.  It's simple, it makes sense, it just wouldn't have crossed my mind.  It's common sense, but it's like, UNcommon sense.  You have uncommon sense."

And I said "That's a great blog title."  :)

And the more I've thought about it, the more perfect it is for us.  Most of the compliments that I've gotten on the blog have to do with our uncommon sense.   We think outside the box to come up with uncommon creative ideas (hello, somewhat ghetto crawling mats, a weighted license plate for a baby walker, trying to train our own service dog, etc).  We might have an uncommon sense of humor, tending towards the darker/more sarcastic side, a little irreverant (even when you're losing your hair, you have to look on the lighter side). 

Maybe most importantly, we have an uncommon sense of perspective.  People have commented at how impressive it is that we don't get bogged down by some of our struggles . . . but really?  Things here aren't so bad (I mean, we have breakdown moments, but they are fewer and farther between).   State of mind doesn't have to be something that just happens, it's a choice. 

And so, I think we have a permanent name, brought to you by uncommon sense :)