Updates and current events

So much happened in the last 2 weeks that I've failed to update on Ava's appointment with the High Risk Infant Clinic assessment. First, let's all give a big round of applause to little Miss New Walker! Ava officially (and literally) took off running last Friday. Since then, she's doing a combo of walk/crawl, or whatever will achieve the goal of her getting her way faster.

We took our annual girl's trip (which last happened 3 years ago, but one year it will happen annually) to Monterey. Sophia had so much fun playing with her cousins and sharing the bed with her Grandma.

So this is a nice transition into her assessment, where she was having none of the walking business. I felt a bit like that construction worker with the frog cartoon (which I've referenced in a past post with Sophia, I believe). You know, the frog sings and performs in the presence of the construction worker that found him and when the construction worker presents him to theatrical group, the frog just sits there and croaks. So my moment was similar, except Ava didn't croak, but sat there smiling and looking at me like she was in on my game and having none of the showmanship I requested. "Does she take any steps on her own?" asks the Dr. doing the evaluation."Why yes, I'll show you" says the overachiever mother, as she stands her daughter up and says, "see!" while the daughter drops to the floor with a thump and smiles. We went at this game for what seemed like eternity. And then the skeptical doctor asked if we could move on. Ava wowed her with the play time, and the evaluation got an A- (A+ would have been if the little stinker walked on command). The doctor said she doesn't see anything to worry about with Ava, and that I should work with her on walking. Ha. I will say that I know how lucky we are. I write this often enough, because I hope that message is loud and clear. We still have more milestones on the list to meet, but so far Ava is passing with flying colors. I wouldn't be completely honest if I didn't admit that there are days I wait for the other shoe to drop. But those days are outnumbered by the rock star I know Ava is. So the next big milestone is her speaking. But get her around the dog, and she can't stop saying his name. She says "Ruger" so well, I'm jealous that her "MaMa" isn't directed at me with that amount of enthusiasm. Speaking of Ruger, he is almost back to normal. Rick was talking to the neighbor out front the other day, the one that I credit for saving Ruger's life. He asked how Ruger was doing, and just as Rick said, "He's in good shape!" Ruger tries to run after the ball, does a misstep up the curb and face plants into the lawn. Rick corrects, "Well, he's not 100% yet."
I called the Animal Control to find out what happened to the 2 dogs in holding. The female that attacked Ruger was allowed to be released to the owner. They paid the fines, filled out the paperwork and agreed to abide by all the laws to retain a dangerous dog. I am currently waiting for the full report with owner information, so I can send them Ruger's vet bill. If they have that kind of money to bail their dog out of jail and jump through hoops, they have the money to pay the vet bill. I have a feeling it will not go without a bit of a fight from us, but I'm going to be optimistic until i see otherwise. My main concern is that this dog will get out again. I haven't driven into the garage without reliving the whole event, so that dog better stay locked up. The other dog was released to animal control by his owners. I'm sure his fate wasn't as rosy as the main offender's.

Sophia says...

"Mommy, I think the ants are really our friends. They eat all the stuff you don't clean up and the stuff that's too small for Ava to pick up and eat off the floor."

Tea for the Duchess

My Grandma turned 90 this past week. In a collaborative effort, we threw her a tea party fit for a Queen, er, Duchess. I still need to get the full story here, but it was a pet name my Grandpa called my Grandma, and also ended up being the name my Grandpa gave his fighter plane during WWII. My Aunt Bev coordinated travel for herself and her husband to fly out from Atlanta, my cousin Mariah to fly here from Costa Rica, and my cousin Windy, who lives on a sailboat with her husband and daughters, to fly from Mexico with one of her daughters, Francis. Mariah and her husband make beautiful baked goods, and she brought an amazing cake in her carry-on bag from Costa Rica to Atlanta and then to California. Windy also brought an amazing cake from her hometown bakery, which happened to be one of my favorite cakes, a Saint Honore. My mother packed up her fine china tea set for the occassion, and my sister in-law Dione busted out her collection of antique hats and also her mother's tea set, in addition to presenting Grandma with a lovely corsage. There was a lot of history and meaning weaved in through our day.
This event was also a big surprise for my grandma. And while we wanted it to be a surprise all in one, it was a good thing we spread out the surprises throughout a few days, ending with the grand finale surprise party and Windy and Francis joining the grand affair.
Because quite honestly, we didn't want our dear Grandma to die of a heart attack or shock. Our hearts were all full of love and fond memories that day. We drank our beverages out of tea cups. We wore our finest dresses and posed with the hats. I think Grandma was proud. She said little that day, taking it all in.
My Grandma is the classiest lady I know. She Miss Manner-ed all of her grandchildren. It was a rite of passage to fly out to the East Coast on our own when we turned 10-ish, to stay at their high rise condo. "Don't throw anything off the balcony!" was the first warning we were given upon entering their home and running out to the balcony to see the ant size people below. Our grandparents took us shopping for patent leather shoes and plaid skirts (a suit for my brother), cardigan sweaters and hair ties. My Grandma set up her dinning room table with her fine china and instructed the proper etiquette of dining. We went to Windows of the World (top of the World Trade Center) for dinner, complete with a sorbet palate cleanser (the only thing I actually remember having there). We visited museums and art galleries, saw a play on Broadway, and did a road trip to DC.
My Grandma played tennis weekly and had her bridge groups. She has always been a Lady. She also has a heart of gold. She absolutely lets you know how much it means to her for the littlest of things you do. Just the presence of her family pleases her to no end.I have never heard her say an unkind word about anyone. I love my Grandma so dearly, and I hope that everything was perfect for her Tea Party. I am so grateful for every etiquette she taught me. It came in handy during business dinners, first dates, dinner parties, and now raising little ladies too. Tea for the Duchess indeed.

Dog pack

Life threw us another ringer this past week. Our dog was targeted by a pack of dogs. He's going to be fine, but he's got a long recovery ahead of him. It was a rainy day, and I was on my way home after picking Sophia up from school. I had pulled into the garage and came to take Sophia out of her car seat. Four dogs charged into the open garage, and started running around. My immediate thought was that they got out during the storm and needed to find their owner, so I tried to separate Ruger from the pack by putting Ruger and Sophia in the house. As I opened the door to the house, two of the dogs, the female black and gray bull terrier and the gray pitbull, ran into the house. Ruger continued to sniff around in the front of the garage with the other dogs, the rusty chow/pitbull mix and the other rusty colored bull terrier. I quickly ran to the fridge and grabbed some cheese to get the 2 dogs out of the house, where Sophia now was. They ran out and joined the pack again. I was able to get the gray pitbull into the back yard and close him off but wasn’t successful in getting all of them to the back while also keeping Ruger separated. I quickly realized the best thing to do was to get Ruger back inside and to get the other dogs off our property. At this point there was just a lot of sniffing and rubbing going on between dogs. I told Sophia to stay in the house and I called for Ruger. The other dogs were kind of blocking him. They all started making their way down the street and Ruger started to follow. I called for Ruger and he turned to come back to the house. At this point, the female gray bull terrier grabbed Ruger by the ear and pulled him to the ground. The gray pitbull was by her side but only using his weight to lean against Ruger. I started screaming at the dog and she wouldn’t let go. Then I started to kick at her right hind leg area and screaming for help. The rusty chow/pitbull mix and the other rusty terrier continued down the street, leaving the scene. My kicking wasn’t affecting anything at this point and the female dog continued to bite Ruger while he was laying there. Ruger wasn’t fighting back, but he was struggling to break free of her grasp. She was dragging him, while biting his ear, and then moved to his neck area. At that point, my neighbor came running down and yelled for me to get a hose. I ran up and saw a 2x4 and grabbed that and started hitting the female in her hind legs, still to no avail. Another neighbor ran down at this time, and he had a large rock. He began to strike the female in her head, which freed her grasp on Ruger. I was able to pull Ruger away, as she continued to try to nip at his hind leg as I dragged him. Once I got him into the house, the 2 neighbors restrained the dogs. Rick pulled up at this point, and he got some rope and they were able to tie the dogs up. I ran in and called animal control. The officer came pretty quickly. He took my report and told me to call the vet. Ruger seemed shaken, but he actually didn't look too bad at this point. Thankfully, we listened to the officer and called the vet because he quickly went downhill from there. Poor boy had deep puncture wounds and road rash all over. One bite barely missed his jugular. He was lucky he wasn't a fighter, because it could have been worse for him. I'm still really shaken, and sore from head to toe from all the commotion.
After things came back into focus, I realize how grateful I am that my neighbors risked their life by helping save Ruger. The whole situation could have been a whole lot uglier. I am also so grateful that Sophia listened to me and stayed in the house. Ava was still in her carseat with the door closed, so I am glad she was safe in the car. It seems so surreal to me that a pack of dogs came charging into the garage. I imagine they must have smelled that Ruger is old and week, and found a good opportunity to make it a teachable moment for the pack leader to show how to kill. I am thankful they have the 2 dogs off the street, and can only imagine what they have been up to until this point. Rick saw one of the other 2 strays that left during the fight. I called animal control and I believe they got that dog as well. Hopefully even if they don't find the fourth, he's lost his pack and maybe some of his bravado that the pack brings. As I've learned in the past, I have a hard time with sudden events that bring about change in routine. I was pretty overwhelmed when the vet told me all that needed to happen to care for Ruger. But as in the past, I quickly get over that feeling and spring into action. We're almost back to normal around here. I will be so happy when Ruger starts to annoy me again. Right now he's such a sad sight, I can't help but feel sorry for the guy.

February: Things I want to remember

How true the saying is that you are only a stomach flu away from your goal weight.

The liberating feeling of getting out with the girls finally, after the endless sickness.

Setting up the water and sand table for the girls to play, and both girls being blissfully entertained for a whole hour while I sat back and soaked up some sun.



My "Stage Mom" moment with the MVIP nurse during her 1 year assessment of Ava. I was so proud of showing off what Ava could do, I became a little over the top boastful. Yay Ava!

Alyssa letting her cousin Sophia borrow her Super Girl PJs, and every time Sophia wears them she has to pretend she's saving the world.

Ava deciding that instead of progressing to the next obvious step of walking, to trade in her commando crawl for the traditional crawl, and being content with that for now.

The first fire in the fireplace (since Ava was born) on a bone-chilling night that ended the amazing weather we were having.

Not to take allergy medicine with a cup of coffee on an empty stomach unless you want to feel like a tweaker the whole day.

How lucky we are that Rick only ended up with 12 stitches on his face after removing the skin cancer. Boy could it have been worse!

No matter how many toys and projects you have to entertain a child, the most simple thing like changing bedding can turn into a whole morning of entertainment.