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Jan. 10th, 2007 01:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarflamePATH ended up really good today. It was a nice break from the rest of the day, rather than "one more thing". The weather was shockingly reasonable, first of all; after weeks in the mid to upper 80s, it was like 72 when I went outside, and I hadn't been expecting that at all. The company and conversation were great, and the kids had a good time. I'm going to be leading some homeschool orientations, starting with one this month up at Barnes and Noble, and coming up with a newspaper ad for PATH, as well. Our membership is ebbing as families outgrow the group - we need more young kids.
Ananda is going to be going to her friend Kayla's house tomorrow. Kayla and her mom came here for our knitting circle, when we were doing it, a couple of times over last summer, and I talk to her mom - Yoli - every week at the park. They've also gone on a couple of field trips where our two families end up merging for the trip. She has a 3 year old girl who is SO ISAAC IN FEMALE FORM, and a 14 year old boy who is the most polite, easy going teenager I've ever met. So I feel like I know them well and all. Still, it's weird because I've never driven Ananda to someone's house and dropped her off for hours, or not had her around for dinner, or had another family driving her somewhere - she's going over at 2, staying for dinner and then they're taking her up to the kids' program they go to every Wednesday night, at church. Annie was SCREAMING and clapping with excitement, while Kayla turned cartwheels and yelled - they're both insanely giddy. I mean Yoli is VERY willing to supply information, like that she stays there at the church with them, and what sorts of things they do and teach there, and different things the girls will be keeping busy with at her house...all that kind of stuff. I still feel like I'm having growing pains, though.
Every girl Ananda gets along with and really seems to make a friend of, is 8 or 9 (Kayla just turned 9). She can't seem to relate to other 6 year olds at all. Sometimes I almost feel like I've done something wrong, because when the 6 year old girls who live on our street are around her, they can't even understand the things she says. Two doors down we have some really nice neighbors, and she's spent the afternoon there on a couple of different Saturdays; it's always supposed to be to hang out with Isobel, their 6 year old. But she invariably ends up playing with Sydney, their 8 year old, instead, and Isobel ends up left out the whole time. Similarly at Kristin's party last Saturday, she didn't glance twice at the girls her own age - it was like her and the 8 year old she hung out with dancing were the only "big kids" there. I used to think she was just super shy, in dance class, but in retrospect I think she just didn't know how to make friends with what she saw as "little kids". It's different with boys; she's used to roughhousing and nonsense with her little brothers and so she can have a blast with Aaron's 4 and 5 year old friends Darian and Eli - they just run in circles screaming and wrestle on the floor and act like superheroes jumping off of things, the whole time. How weird is that?
Earlier this evening Aaron was holding Lima Bean (our new lovebird). He for some reason thought it would be a good idea to kneel down and pet Sebastion (our viscious, semi-wild breed cat who kills birds, lizards and rats outside all the time and has even killed another cat before; my grandmother once needed stitches after she tried to hold him down to brush him, and he's even declawed). Sebastion has been VERY good about leaving Lima Bean alone, and he never messed with Sammy, either, when we had him. Still and all we try to make sure he's out when we get Lima Bean out of his cage just to be safe. Anyway, Lima Bean, being the feathered ball of fiery fury that lovebirds are around larger animals, immediately flew claws first into Sebastion's face, chirping wild battle cries. The next thing I know, as I'm trying to stir some spaghetti sauce, Sebastion goes shooting past with him in his mouth and Grant hot on his heels. Aaron was already semi-hysterical as Grant threw the dining table aside to get to the cat before it was too late; he dropped the bird, which Grant picked up...I went and picked Sebastion up by the scruff of his neck and threw him out, feeling guilty because really, how much do we expect him to put up with? He WAS here first and he was basically defending himself. But I have to discourage that kind of thing so he knows our other pet is off limits...
The bird is somehow miraculously fine. We checked him over again and again for blood or puncture, but he was just a bit ruffled. He ate his last handfeeding of the day like usual minutes later and went happily to his cage. I fear he has definitely NOT "learned his lesson". I'm also a little worried because I've heard cat saliva is toxic to birds :/ It was one thing I was asked about when Sammy got the infection that killed him; "Could the cat have gotten to him?" I guess only time can tell. Whatever happens, I'm *really* glad we didn't find a mangled gory lump of feathers under the dining table. For Aaron's sake if nothing else.
There's so much more I could say right now, much of it running deeper than what I've typed here, but I'm just too tired with too many more "before bed" things to do as it is.
Ananda is going to be going to her friend Kayla's house tomorrow. Kayla and her mom came here for our knitting circle, when we were doing it, a couple of times over last summer, and I talk to her mom - Yoli - every week at the park. They've also gone on a couple of field trips where our two families end up merging for the trip. She has a 3 year old girl who is SO ISAAC IN FEMALE FORM, and a 14 year old boy who is the most polite, easy going teenager I've ever met. So I feel like I know them well and all. Still, it's weird because I've never driven Ananda to someone's house and dropped her off for hours, or not had her around for dinner, or had another family driving her somewhere - she's going over at 2, staying for dinner and then they're taking her up to the kids' program they go to every Wednesday night, at church. Annie was SCREAMING and clapping with excitement, while Kayla turned cartwheels and yelled - they're both insanely giddy. I mean Yoli is VERY willing to supply information, like that she stays there at the church with them, and what sorts of things they do and teach there, and different things the girls will be keeping busy with at her house...all that kind of stuff. I still feel like I'm having growing pains, though.
Every girl Ananda gets along with and really seems to make a friend of, is 8 or 9 (Kayla just turned 9). She can't seem to relate to other 6 year olds at all. Sometimes I almost feel like I've done something wrong, because when the 6 year old girls who live on our street are around her, they can't even understand the things she says. Two doors down we have some really nice neighbors, and she's spent the afternoon there on a couple of different Saturdays; it's always supposed to be to hang out with Isobel, their 6 year old. But she invariably ends up playing with Sydney, their 8 year old, instead, and Isobel ends up left out the whole time. Similarly at Kristin's party last Saturday, she didn't glance twice at the girls her own age - it was like her and the 8 year old she hung out with dancing were the only "big kids" there. I used to think she was just super shy, in dance class, but in retrospect I think she just didn't know how to make friends with what she saw as "little kids". It's different with boys; she's used to roughhousing and nonsense with her little brothers and so she can have a blast with Aaron's 4 and 5 year old friends Darian and Eli - they just run in circles screaming and wrestle on the floor and act like superheroes jumping off of things, the whole time. How weird is that?
Earlier this evening Aaron was holding Lima Bean (our new lovebird). He for some reason thought it would be a good idea to kneel down and pet Sebastion (our viscious, semi-wild breed cat who kills birds, lizards and rats outside all the time and has even killed another cat before; my grandmother once needed stitches after she tried to hold him down to brush him, and he's even declawed). Sebastion has been VERY good about leaving Lima Bean alone, and he never messed with Sammy, either, when we had him. Still and all we try to make sure he's out when we get Lima Bean out of his cage just to be safe. Anyway, Lima Bean, being the feathered ball of fiery fury that lovebirds are around larger animals, immediately flew claws first into Sebastion's face, chirping wild battle cries. The next thing I know, as I'm trying to stir some spaghetti sauce, Sebastion goes shooting past with him in his mouth and Grant hot on his heels. Aaron was already semi-hysterical as Grant threw the dining table aside to get to the cat before it was too late; he dropped the bird, which Grant picked up...I went and picked Sebastion up by the scruff of his neck and threw him out, feeling guilty because really, how much do we expect him to put up with? He WAS here first and he was basically defending himself. But I have to discourage that kind of thing so he knows our other pet is off limits...
The bird is somehow miraculously fine. We checked him over again and again for blood or puncture, but he was just a bit ruffled. He ate his last handfeeding of the day like usual minutes later and went happily to his cage. I fear he has definitely NOT "learned his lesson". I'm also a little worried because I've heard cat saliva is toxic to birds :/ It was one thing I was asked about when Sammy got the infection that killed him; "Could the cat have gotten to him?" I guess only time can tell. Whatever happens, I'm *really* glad we didn't find a mangled gory lump of feathers under the dining table. For Aaron's sake if nothing else.
There's so much more I could say right now, much of it running deeper than what I've typed here, but I'm just too tired with too many more "before bed" things to do as it is.
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Date: 2007-01-10 06:53 am (UTC)I'm glad you had a good time at Path.
Looking forward to your "deeper" thoughts.
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Date: 2007-01-10 12:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-10 06:45 pm (UTC)Poor Aaron.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-10 07:19 pm (UTC)If your bird is ever in a confrontation with a cat, take him to the vet immediately even if there are NO apparent wounds. The bird could still have been exposed to this bacteria. You should get your bird to a vet the same day if you think it has come in physical contact with a cat's saliva, feces, or food.
Apparently there is an antitoxin a vet can inject if you take the bird in within 12 hours. I'm sure it is expensive though. :/
At the same time, I know a lady who has a parrot in a house with 4 cats, and the bird is out of its cage a lot, I'm sure if any and all cat contact
was deadly to birds that bird would've died long ago.