If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you saw it yesterday, but in case you didn’t, here’s a link to a guest post I have up on WhattoExpect.com (yes, the same people who do the books), titled “What Surprised Me Most About Having a Son With Down Syndrome.” If you’ve been around here for very long you probably already know the punch line. 😉
New York City is giving the well-known handicapped symbol a facelift. I think I like it? I’m not sure. Or more specifically, I’m not sure that I care one way or the other. What do you think?
What it does make me think of is a totally unrelated story involving my sister, a school crossing sign, and her written driver’s test when she was fifteen. My sister was a straight-A student but she may or may not have missed the school crossing sign on the test and it may or may not have been because she thought it was a pedestrian crossing sign and that may or may not have been because she thought the kids on the sign carrying books were women carrying purses. 🙂
On Sunday morning the boys went fishing and I was out on the back porch with Sarah Kate and the dogs. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some movement near the wax myrtle trees and then saw Stella looking at something on the ground in front of her. I went to investigate and found a baby bird, alive but not moving much. As I was attempting to ascertain whether it was injured or just afraid, Daisy bounded over and startled it, causing it to move, which (of course!) caused her to pounce.
There was no doubt at that point that the bird was seriously injured and Sarah Kate had (of course!) seen the whole thing. I picked it up and while holding it in my hand gently suggested to her that perhaps we should ring its neck. She was appalled at the suggestion so I held it for a few short minutes until it stopped breathing, which brought a fresh round of Upset Ten Year Old. She wanted to bury it and I told her we’d do that when Daddy got home.
In an attempt to make her feel better, I reassured her that even though the baby bird was dead, his last few minutes he was loved and cared for, didn’t die alone, and all that jazz. It seemed to help and she went inside to get a little bag to put the bird in until Daddy got home.
— 4 —
But the story (of course!) doesn’t end there. As she was coming back outside, I heard her yelling, “Daisy! What have you got?!?! Drop it!” Birdmaimer Daisy did as she was told and out popped…another dead baby bird. I had already used my best line for consoling her over the death of Bird One, and the circumstances didn’t apply for Bird Two.
We went looking for the nest and found it – protected by a mom and a dad cardinal who kept trying to divert us – at the top of the wax myrtles. I “saw” another baby bird still in the nest, pointed out the mom and dad trying to distract us, and convinced her that there was at least one more bird who would survive (oh, and I crated both dogs). It might have been true, though it was probably a lie, but what’s a mom to do?
I finished the The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
A little boy with Down syndrome is featured in a Care.com commercial, and he has a speaking part! Go here to watch it or click on the video below. More and more companies are seeing the benefit in using kids with disabilities in their advertising – I hope one day soon it won’t be news anymore.
Hat tip to Ellen Seidman for the link!
Have you seen the compilation video I did of Sarah Kate awhile back? It was back in the blog’s early days and used old video of her walking pre- and post-rhizotomy and concluded with a scene of her walking down the street in front of our house. I’m thinking of updating it with current footage. Interested? If there’s enough enthusiasm I’ll do it this weekend and post it next week. If I hear crickets I’ll probably still do it, but not this weekend. 🙂
Have a great weekend!
This post was inspired by and is linked to Conversion Diary‘s 7 Quick Takes.
Would love to see updated footage of Sarah Kate! As we’re determining next steps for our daughter, more botox, surgeries, it’s really helpful to see how other kids are doing! Thank you
Sure post it, as a new follower I wouldn’t mind just watching it with the new footage.
Your bird story cracked me up! In fact it reminds me of today at our house. A mysterious rooster has appeared in our area. No big deal we’ve had them before. Except this one decided to jump into our fenced in yard. We have two dogs, a german shepherd and a black lab. Do you see where I am going with this?
The lab is a puppy still but she started chasing the rooster around the yard earlier when our other dog was still inside. My husband, who was the only one home, called her off and put her in the house, thinking the rooster would just go away. A short time later he put both dogs outside and went on with his life. Then he heard the rooster cackling and ran back outside to call the dogs in. He checked on the rooster which was hiding in the bushes by the fence then called me. Mind you, he is a city boy.
He wasn’t sure what to do, so I told him to check to see if the bird was bleeding and if it was bleeding too much he may just need to bash it in the head to end its suffering. I was kidding of course but the long pause and the “Uhhhhh, I don’t think I can do that,” had me laughing all the way home.
Once home I tried to see the rooster and he looked dead to both of us. Thankfully he was just playing dead as once my husband tried to pick him up with a shovel he protested loudly and ran away. Unfortunately we have to find a way to either catch him or chase him out of the yard before the dogs can go back out.
The rooster is fine, our dogs only plucked him pretty good. But, now my husband knows how unsmart chickens actually can be.
And now I am off to go catch a chicken.
LOL! I almost didn’t finish reading because I thought the rooster was going to meet an untimely demise…
Your story reminded me of another story of our black lab (she died three years ago at age 13) and a squirrel who chose to play dead at the exact moment I corralled the dog so he could go free.
I can help you with suggestions for books about the Nazi era. This is from the bibliographic essay in the book “Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945” by David M. Kennedy:
“Of the many studies of the rise of Nazism … I have found these the most useful: Joachim Fest, ‘Hitler’; Alan Bullock, ‘Hitler: A Study in Tyranny’; William Shirer, ‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich’; A.J.P. Taylor, ‘The Origins of the Second World War’; Winston S. Churchill, ‘The Second World War’ (6 vols.); Donald Cameron Watt, ‘How War Came: The Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938-1939’….”
I don’t know how useful you will find these suggestions, but I thought I’d pass them on anyway.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Your poor girl, having to see two dead birds in one day! I’m glad you found a live one to cheer her.
I’m here from Considerings, trying to meet all of the co-hosts. I look forward to reading more about your beautiful family.