A Walk to Familiar Territory

Mark and I have been switching off walking Mellon in the mornings, ala Dog Whisperer advice, but this morning Mark had to go to a meeting and so the dog walking got put off so that we could have some morning together and after he left John and I took her. Before leaving I was looking at google maps texting directions to Mark so that he could get where he was going and John was really interested in the map, so I printed off a map from our house to the church and we set off on our walk.

When I was a little girl my mom would take us on walks around out long long block in Louisiana, we would take buckets and gather berries for jelly, or pinecones, or flowers or whatever. She taught us the names of the different plants, we talked about which ones were good and which ones were poisonous, she taught us about all the bugs and stuff that we saw and how to run and scream from a snake, and told us stories about all kinds of silly stuff. These were great times with my mom, days that I miss. Later when Tina, my sister, was pregnant with her first baby, she, Mom and I would walk for an hour or so each night around the little town that we lived in. Those nights in Iowa were the best ones there, oh we still talked about the different flowers and such, but we had a lot of good laughs together too and got to be friends.

The walk today with John was not only to the familiar places that he and I have walked over and over again since we've been here but for me it was a memory of fun days when I was a little girl and walked with my mom. We watched the map and named the streets and looked for the turns. The wind is blowing like crazy today so we got to pick up a Robin's egg that was knocked intact from it's nest, count leaves on branches that blew out of the tree, look at different kinds of seeds that are blowing around and smelled one that really stinks, followed a contrail to see the plane, listened to the train blow it's whistle, discuss why church was closed and he couldn't get a drink there, watch John back up all the curbs that he could never get up forwards (he figured this out on his own, I guess from watching us back his chair up into the truck), he got to run his tires in the water in the ditch, run over sticks and bumps in the pavement and even say hi to the mailman.

All in all it probably wasn't an effective walk for the dog other than she learned to not walk in front of me and got to sit and wait a bunch, but for me and John it was lots of fun and a memory that I will treasure right next to those ones of walks with my mom.

Drinking Standing Up

Mark and I sat impressed just watching John do this, thankfully he did it a second time so that I could remember to get the camera :)

On!

When I came home from running errands all day John was so thrilled to see me, after hugs and hello's and checking out the bags he disappeared for a bit and came back to show me...



...the sign he is making is 'on'.



Have you guessed what he's got dangling from his ear yet?



Since I took his picture he needed me to take a picture of the dog too!

Comforting Words

Losing someone you love is never easy, miscarriage is hard on so many fronts and words of comfort are often foolish like 'oh your baby is an angel now' or misplaced 'oh well you can try harder next time', 'I guess it just wasn't meant to be'. There are real words of comfort from friends and family who have been there before, there is even real comfort from friends and family who haven't and yet know that you hurt and want to help even though there just are no good words to say. Rarely is there comfort from sound theological places, but I know many many women who have traveled these tear filled roads and more who have had friends that did and don't know what to say. Here is a link to Pastor Harrison's blog today, for me I'm going to print it out and stick it in my purse, then maybe on day's like yesterday I will reread it and not find myself so low.

Good Dog

You can just see John's arm sticking out of his blanket, he's sound asleep. Mellon was just waking when I got the picture. Each night when we take John to bed to say prayers she comes and lays down by his bed. She sleeps there for a while, sometimes a few hours but always at least until he is quiet and sleeping peacefully and then she comes to find us. Good dog!

Bonding Rituals

Leaving your litter mates is not easy on a puppy. It takes them a while to adjust. One of the things that they can do is stop eating or not eat much. Mellon spent several days around here eating very little, I was quite worried about her but have spoken to friends, family and her new vet and was assured this is all part of puppyhood. When we took her to see our friends she ate like crazy with their dog, Toby, but back home again that tapered off and it was obvious that she was missing him. Her eating is picking up each day, but she eats best when John throws her a few pieces at a time and so we have taught him to use the horn on his chair to call her (we're still teaching her that those two short beeps are her name) and then he pitches a bit of dog food on the floor for her and as she eats it he pitches a bit more. Each time this little ritual happens both boy and dog find that they are bonding closer and closer together.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

John loved helping dad get the kite ready to fly and the actual flying was so much fun too, but since I got to fly it some too and was busy trying to hold the dog there aren't pics, just great memories of a fun and windy day.