A boy and his dog

I'm sure you've read the articles.  Pets help children physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.

It all rings true to me.  But I'm most fascinated in what my dog is non-verbally teaching my son.

Follow me, I will show you how to expend your energy.  It doesn't matter how we look.  We will be so engrossed in the moment that we will become unaware of our appearances.

I am an animal, and I know how to be joyously reckless.  Watch me fly.

Now you try.

Sometimes we'll run along together, perfectly in sync with each other's pace.

Sometimes we will be going different ways, and maybe we won't understand each other much on those days.

But we will find common ground, and we will reconnect.

 I can sense your mood, thoughts, and impending movements.  Sit with me awhile and see if you can do the same.  We are not so different.

It's really okay to fall down.  I do it all the time.  But as a dog I never bemoan the fact that it happened.  I jump up so quickly that it might never have been.

That's it.  Back up you go.

Now keep playing.  Always keep playing with me.

I will let you catch me sometimes

because you are my most favorite person.  I trust you.

But if you want my ball, you will have to work hard for it.  Dropping it at your feet would teach you nothing of hard work.

Run with me until it's too dark to see, until we both collapse in the scratchy grass.

Dogs know nothing of favorite movies or video games.  

They know that birds are fun to chase, and that people need a lot of kisses.  

All they need is a ball and an open backyard.

And always they remind us to be gentle and humane, playful and happy, serene and absorbing, 

forgiving and open.

These are the things I want my son to know, too.

--KC

January 2014: Piglet and other things

Well here we are again.

Christmas arose on a very sick little boy in our home.  He spent the day on the couch-turned-bed with barely enough energy to lift his head up.  Presents were of no concern to him, even though had been updating his "Santa list" on a daily basis for months.  It was a little bit awful.

Therefore, our glamorous 2013 family Christmas photo looked something like this:

I think Hallmark is just about to call for the copyright.

Luckily, we brought home a sweet little Boston puppy in late November so we had a nice distraction in the house.  We responded to an ad in the Kansas City paper for a litter in Topeka, Kansas.  I was sent a text containing this picture of Boston puppies over-spilling a basket (and this wasn't even all of them!)

Ours turned out to be the one climbing out on the far right.

That did it.  We hopped in the car the next morning and drove the 5+ hours to collect our girl.

We were the first ones there (by about 10 minutes!) so we had first pick of the litter.  There were eight Bostons (a huge litter!) and four females to choose from.  We insist on girl pets.

It's not easy to choose one puppy--or even to keep straight which one is which--when there are so many stumbling around and clambering all over you.  

In the end we had narrowed it down to two puppies.  One was a bit bigger and naughtier (ie wouldn't stop eating my purse) and the other one was timid and would not leave the safety of my lap.  Although timidity isn't normally a characteristic I am drawn to in a dog, this one was incredibly endearing.  With big, clear eyes she just kept staring up at us, willing us to love her.

Topher watched the other dogs wrestling and biting and tearing their blankets apart.  Then he looked at the one who was sitting anchored in my lap.  I could see his brain-cogs turning.  I knew what was coming.

He chose the quiet one.  The one least likely to disturb the balance of our household.  And maybe most importantly, the one least likely to eat all his toys.

  

Her markings weren't quite as "perfect" as some of the others (although they were still quite nice) but we all fell hard for her sweetness.

And so we brought her home, suggesting and vetoing names the whole way.  We noticed right away that she was good in the car.  We drove nearly 6 hours that night and she slept on my lap the entire time.  Not wiggling to explore or get away, not barking or whimpering.  Just content.  We think the "big litter" life didn't suit her very well.  

She seemed to be saying, "Just keep driving.  Take me away from the chaos and just love me."

And so we did.  

 Along the way we named her Piglet, because to us she looked exactly like a Hampshire piglet.

 I mean, come on.  

Piglet even accompanied us to our December temple trip (she was left with a heated blanket in her crate while we went inside).  That trip was the 12th of its kind for 2013, meaning that we hit our goal to make it to the temple every single month last year!

We are still not used to Sassy being gone.  Even though Piglet is adorable, I can't help feeling like we are trying to fill an enormous Sassy-shaped hole with a tiny Piglet.

But she is growing on us, even as she shows her true colors.  Bostons have energy, and our "calm, timid" girl is no exception.  She is so fast that, at top speed, we can all be diving at her from different directions and we cannot catch her.  Her teeth are typical puppy teeth, alarming in their razor-sharpness and ability to draw blood in a split second.  When she gets feisty and starts growling, biting, and seems all-around ready to rain havoc on us--or in other words, when she is being a typical puppy--we have taken to calling her Tilikum. (Which may be a little in bad taste.  Tilikum is, after all, the largest Orca in captivity, responsible for the death of a couple trainers.  Sorry about that, but the urge to compare her to other black and white animals is quite overwhelming.)

So she has her sweet, cuddly moments.  She has her Tilikum moments.  But the main point is that she loves us, and she is shaping up to be a great family dog.  She's no Sassy, that's for sure.  But she is Piglet.  And I guess for trying to shine in the shadow of the world's best dog, she's actually doing alright.  I have to admit that her pig-worthy assortment of grunts, snores and snorts are growing on us all.

After all, bath-time has never been livelier.

And let's face it: when a puppy knows how to snuggle a Christmas-day sick boy, you will overlook a multitude of Tilikum moments.  She's a keeper.

I LOVE this photo.

That's all the news I can drudge up from the depths of a long, cold Iowa winter. 

Farewell until I neglect my blog for far too long and then cram our lives into another endless post.  :)

--KC 

Catching Up

It's been about a month and I realize that while we don't have huge events to immortalize, there have been plenty of little things happening around here:

In October, Topher finished up his first soccer season.  The hornets finished strong with a 5-1 season (although technically you aren't supposed to keep score.  Shhhh.)

It was an up-and-down season for Topher.  He actually made three goals this year, although I would say they were right-time-right-place scores.  He had some trouble with the noise since they played indoors, so his earplugs were a constant.  But overall he did great, and he's excited to try soccer again next year as well as basketball.

Turning five means another cleaning at the dentist.  He does so great there, and I love how relaxed he is in this picture.  It helps that the TV above him is on the Disney channel.  They keep trying to take bite wings but his mouth is still too little.  Once again the dentist reported no "sugar bugs" and all is well.

We still miss Sassy.  I mean, obviously we will always miss Sassy.  Sometimes I still can't stand that she isn't here.  But we realize that our family doesn't feel right without a dog, so we have been searching, and researching, and discussing, and debating.  We would love to rescue a dog from a shelter, and we did try, in fact, to do just that.  For a couple days this little face went everywhere with me:

She really was a perfect little dog.  She was quiet and cuddly, house-trained and crate-trained, great in the car and fun to have around.

Until she tried to kill our cat.

It was a total Jekyll and Hyde situation.  She was perfect, perfect, perfect, then ATTACK THE CAT.  Squash was traumatized, nothing we did seemed to ease the CHASE AND KILL instinct, and with some regret but mostly relief we took her back to her foster family.

And that's when we decided that maybe a puppy would be a better solution for our family.  After Sassy's "puppyhood" we vowed never to have a puppy again (and she wasn't even that bad!)  But looking back we wonder now if the reason we loved her so, the reason we were so bonded to her, was that we had been with her since the beginning.

So we went to the library and hauled home several dog breed books.  We looked at big dogs, small dogs, shaggy dogs, beefy dogs, frail dogs, yippy dogs, serious dogs, silly dogs, and everything in between.

And in the end it was Topher who planted his digit on the page and said, "This is the dog I want."

His finger was jammed against a picture of a Boston Terrier.

And the more research we do, the happier we are with his choice.  It's smallish, needs no grooming, happy, fun, friendly, cute, clownish, snuffly, smart, generally healthy, and lives a long life.

So now we are on the hunt for our very own Boston.  A new family member to love almost (but never quite) as much as we loved Sassy.  We are hopeful that there will be a December litter within driving distance so that we can bring home a Christmas puppy.  So very 'Lady & the Tramp' of us, I know.

I am staying busy with the young women at church, TJ has come upon a busier time at work, and we are hopefully going to buy a second-hand treadmill from one of his co-workers so we can stay in shape over the long, long winter.

Topher is having a great year at Preschool and he is excited about the approaching winter (I am more excited myself now that TJ climbed up on the roof to clean the chimney and we have a pile of wood in the garage ready to burn in the fireplace.  Mmmmm.)

And that's about it for the Clark household.  

Hope everyone is doing well and getting excited about the holidays!

Love,

KC 

Cowabunga Party, Dude!

We LOVE birthday parties in this house.

This year was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme.  What could be better?

The decor:

A peek inside the "sewer line" hallway:

The cookie cakes (all four of them!):

The kids' cups:

  The downstairs was set up like a dojo:

 

The costumes to use downstairs.  Every child got a roasting pan "shell" (with duct tape straps) and arm & headband cloths:

TJ made all the balloons himself:

As well as the greeter pumpkin on the front step:

Party menu (you know this is my favorite part):

                                                
 

Add one happy birthday dude...

and presents, and the party is complete!

Topher, we have SO much fun throwing your parties every year.  We love you more than we should possibly be able to fit into five little years with you.

Happy birthday, turtle boy.

--KC