The first poop

2 weeks ago:

Daniel and I are eating dinner together by ourselves.  Hannah is at Grandma and YaYa’s house for her weekly sleepover and Aaron is out with work friends because he is moving offices for a couple of months on Monday.

Daniel isn’t very hungry because Grandma filled him up when dropped Hannah off.  He is picking brown rice slowly, but mostly he’s just playing with it, and he’s not touching his Indian butter chicken.  I am about halfway through mine when Daniel suddenly stops twirling his food around his plate.  He forgets about everything else as a look of concentration crosses his face.

“QUICK DANIEL, LET’S GET TO THE POTTY!!” I tell him, trying, but failing to contain the urgency in my voice.  I don’t exactly want to be attempting to remove poop that’s been amalgamated with undies in the middle of dinner.

“I DON’T WANT TO!!!!” He screams.  But I don’t listen.  By the time he’s finished with his sentence, we’re already half way to the bathroom, despite his flailing arms and legs.

I pull down his pants and undies and put him straight onto his little potty.  The concentration fills his face again, this time laced with a look of excitement. His protests cease and the room is silent.

Plop.

“I DID IT!!! I DID A POO ON THE POTTY!!!!”  He stands up excitedly and looks at in the toilet bowl. “THERE’S A POOP IN THERE! I DID A POOP!”

He is jumping up and down with huge smile on his face as I give him a chocolate Easter egg and promise that we will go to Kmart tomorrow to get a pirate tent.

Daniel

“Good job buddy, let’s go finish our dinner now.”  We walk towards the table, but before we get there, my elation is replaced by annoyance.  Our bowls are empty.

“ROSIE!!!!!!”  She comes bounding in as if nothing happened.  “NO!  You DO NOT get on the table!”  I tell her whilst pointing my finger and furrowing my brow.  “OUTSIDE.”  I tell her sternly.  Little thief.

I was wrong though.  I thought it would take just one poop in the toilet and Daniel would lap up the praise, rewards, and excitement and continue to poop in the toilet, just like he did with pees.  But he didn’t.  He’s only pooped in the toilet once since then, and again only because I recognised poo face and ran him to the toilet at Grandma’s house.

Time is out though.  The cruise is tomorrow.  I had an alternate plan: putting Daniel in kids club with a pull up, and then telling the carers to call me if he needs a nappy change, until Jess pointed out that we won’t have any phone reception.  You know, since we’ll be at sea.  I’m still not giving up.  Daniel is a sweet, charming boy, so he is going to tell them that he really wants to go to kids club with Hannah. Maybe there won’t be that many kids and they’ll like him so much that they will take him despite his lack of toilet skills.  How can anyone say no to a 2 year old that tells you how much he wants to be there all by himself?  He has incredible language skills.  I’m not giving up.  He will have fun there. He really, really, really wants to go to kids club.  Hannah really wants him to go to kids club (she is looking forward to kids club the most out of everything on the entire cruise), and I really want him to go. You know what they say, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

Also, there won’t be any posts whilst I’m away, except the guest post on Thursday that is set to auto post for me, since the only internet available is ridiculously expensive.

BON VOYAGE!  I’ll post lots of pictures when I get back 🙂 YAY I’M SO EXCITED!

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Copyright 2014 Sheri Thomson

Puppies: dream vs. reality

Before getting Rosie, I had all these nice images in my head about what life would be like with a dog.

1. Dream: After a long day, the puppy would lay on my lap enjoying a pat and a cuddle.
Reality: Like a racing dog chasing a rabbit, Rosie thunders toward the couch, jumping onto my lap as her pointy claws scratch my legs.  Despite the scratches, I’m happy to finally have a moment of lap dog so I stroke her fur.  She lets me for about two seconds before she realises that my hand would be a fantastic chew toy.

2. Dream: When we’re outside in the back yard, the kids play together with Rosie, bearing the biggest grins on their faces that I’ve ever seen.
Reality: Rosie excitedly jumps up on them, accidentally clawing them in the process and makes them cry.  When the kids are playing with one of their outdoor toys, Rosie steals it and runs off. Daniel cries some more.

3. Dream: A dog will protect my vegetable patch from birds and other large pests.
Reality: She chases birds away only because she notices them whilst digging big holes in the garden, pulling leaves off of my beans, and pulling out and tearing apart anything that is not already established.  I even got a special plant that is supposed to deter dogs and keep them away from the garden in hopes of keeping her out.  She pulled it out and tore it up.

some of the holes in the garden. This part of the garden isn’t yet planted because it was finished too late for last seasons crops. Now if I plant anything, she tears it straight out.

4. Dream: Going for walks with the family would be an almost daily, fun activity, with our puppy loping along happily next to my heel.
Reality: The whole walk is spend trying to keep Rosie from tripping the kids by erratic walking/running/pulling.  My arm is dead by the time we get back from my attempts to keep her on one side only and not pulling like a maniac.

5. Dream: When in a playful mood, the kids and I can have lots of fun playing fetch with the dog.
Reality:  We throw the ball once and then she runs off with it.  Unless we have treats, in which case she brings it back and puts it at my feet knowingly every single time.

6. Dream: We could all enjoy watching Rosie frolicking about with her numerous toys when she’s in a playful mood.
Reality: Immediately she stashes all of her toys outside and then steals whatever she can (undies, shoes, kids’ toys, cups, toilet paper rolls, etc.) to chew to pieces inside.  I have lost numerous pairs of undies, a pair of pants, some of the kids’ art, pens, an expensive bra (one of only 3 that actually fit me properly), Aaron’s favourite shoes have a shoelace chewed clean off, and countless non-dog toys.  At first she stole whatever was on the floor.  We obviously started getting vigilant about putting things away, so now she takes things off shelves, out of laundry baskets, off tables, and off desks.  Things we would be happy for her to chew up outside, like small tree branches get taken inside and chewed to bits on Daniel’s pirate lounge.  The other day, she brought an earth worm inside and put it on the couch.  The night after that, she brought in two snails (one without a shell by the time she got it inside), a cockroach, and a cricket.  After playing with bugs to the point of death, she enjoys rolling on them to ingrain their stink into her fur.

One of Hannah’s lovely drawings all chewed to pieces on the couch

7. Dream: Visions of leisurely morning jogs with a dog running quietly by my side filled my head.
Reality: She is practically running on two legs because I have to hold her back so much, whilst at the same time she is darting this way and that, almost taking me out with every stride.  Even when I hold the leash below the handle to make it shorter, she still manages to trip me up.  Sometimes she stops suddenly.  The whole run is spent with my arm muscle engaged in vain attempts to keep her at only one of my sides.  The other night when I took her for a run, I dropped my phone after nearly falling over her and decided walking would be the safest option.  So much for our exercise.

The last run I tried to take Rosie on.

9. Dream: Once trained, naughty behaviour would be a thing of the past.  Puppies don’t know what they aren’t supposed to do until you teach them.
Reality: Rosie does know what she is not supposed to do.  She just waits to do it until we’re not looking.  If we catch her in the act, she runs off immediately after only a glance in her direction.

10. Dream: The backyard we worked so hard to get looking nice, with lush green grass and a cleaned up cement patio thing would look a whole lot nicer with an adorable puppy running around.
Reality: Rosie is a digger. Everyday she digs holes.  As soon as we fill them in, she digs them up again, past bare earth to the point of dangerous ankle grabbing holes.  Bits of stuff she steals and chews up adorn the lawn and patio.  The thick plastic sheet I put on her dog crate when it’s outside is being systematically torn up each day and the little bits of chewed up plastic are strewn about on the patio, lawn, and even in the house.

Little bits of black plastic are everywhere

One of the lawn holes. Aaron tried to plant grass seeds in it after filling it up, but that didn’t last very long.

She will settle down with age, right?

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Copyright 2014 Sheri Thomson

The underwear monster

Aaron’s underwear.  Hannah’s and Daniel’s.  Mine.  Clean. Dirty.  New. Old. The underwear monster is firmly against discrimination.  At first our undies were only stolen if we carelessly left them on the ground, or in a newly folded clothes pile we lazily didn’t put away.

As we caught on to the underwear monster though, we started making sure our undies were never, ever left out.  As soon as they are folded, we put them away.  When we get undressed for showers or baths, we put  our undies high up, out of reach until it goes in the hamper afterwards.

For a while, due to our vigilance, our underpants were safe.  But the underwear monster couldn’t resist.  She brazenly found new ways of fuelling her underwear addiction.  Despite the hamper being much taller than she is, she somehow managed to steal underpants without detection.  Today alone, I’ve lost two pairs.  They are now so full of holes that I had to put them in the bin.

When the kids forget to close their bedroom door, the underwear monster sneaks in, like a ninja in the night and snatches Hannah’s underwear from its home in a Dora the Explorer hanging pouch thing.  I think it’s supposed to house shoes, but whatever, underwear fits there too.

There is no stopping the underwear monster, she is an addict and underwear is her crack.

The underwear monster aka Rosie

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A puppy for Christmas

We’ve been waiting 5 weeks to get our beaglier x mini foxy puppy. I had these day dreams of our family going to the park together in the evening with the puppy, all of us running around, laughing and having fun.  We will do that, in addition to taking her for runs, walks and play dates with other dogs.  It’s hard waiting, but puppies are vulnerable to the canine parvo virus, which is spread by faeces, and can kill young pups.  Going to the park, or anywhere else a puppy might come into contact with other dogs poop could be deadly until they turn 12 weeks and receive their parvo virus vaccination.  Right now she is only 8 weeks old.

I also didn’t realise that having a puppy would deprive me of sleep for a number of weeks.  They can’t go all night without needing to pee and/or poop, which means I also have to wake up to take her out to pee/poop.  It’s like having a newborn.  And like having a newborn, even though they are hard work, looking at her adorable face, and getting great cuddles makes it totally worth it.  I’m just glad this night waking thing should be over by the time university starts back up next year so my brain won’t be in a sleep deprived fog whilst I try to get good marks in chemistry.

On Christmas eve, I picked up our new puppy.  I got home long after the kids had gone to bed, upping my chances of concealing the puppy until morning.  She whined a lot over night, had to go to the bathroom 3 times, and kept us up for many hours.  We couldn’t really blame her though, we did take her from her mom and dad, we were strangers, and we completely changed life as she knew it.

In the morning, we woke the kids from their slumber (perhaps I was more excited about seeing their reactions to their presents then they were about getting them in the first place…), sat them in front of the Christmas tree, and then brought out the special present.  I’d wrapped the flip lid box  so that it was still a flip lid box, just a very Christmasy one.

Hannah and Daniel groggily sit in front of the tree

I should have waited for the kids to wake up a bit first, but we were impatient, so their reactions were not exactly the over the top, screaming with excitement type we were going for, but they were groggily excited nonetheless.

Each day Rosie settles in more and more.  Hannah adores her and wants to cuddle and play with her all day long.  Daniel is a bit scared of her since Rosie thinks a human running means they want to play.  Daniel runs from her, which entices Rosie to run after him, which in turn scares Daniel, makes him run faster and then gets Rosie even more excited for play time.  He’ll get used to her though.

When she wakes up in the morning, Rosie is like a 6 year old who’s consumed a huge bowl of lollies.  Absolutely wild.  She tears around the house trying to chew on anything and everything like a tiny ball of energy.  Needless to say, she will be going for morning runs with me as soon as she has that vaccination.

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Copyright 2013 Sheri Thomson

I found a puppy

I am free.  For the summer….  I finished my last exam for the year, and don’t have to think about university again until late February / early March.  Except to register for next years classes.

Anyway, after my last exam, YaYa and I went on a quest to see a puppy.  My silly GPS took us to the wrong street that we thought was the right street, and we spent 10 minutes buzzing the intercom of the wrong house.  I was told the house in question was Italian looking and the GPS  took us to the most Italian looking house that I’ve ever seen in Australia.  Turns out the correct house was Italian looking, just not compared to the wrong house.  I wonder if the residents of the wrong house watched in amusement as I pressed their intercom repeatedly whilst straining to listen for barks and puppy noises. I would have knocked on the door, but it was about 10 feet behind a locked fence next to the intercom.

Eventually, we decided that perhaps we were in the wrong place, and decided to drive around.  We got lost in windy one way suburban crazy roads and then finally arrived at the correct house where we found a lovely couple and lots of adorable Beaglier x mini foxy puppies.  I picked the rambunctious yet sweet girl puppy called Sandy for her sandy coloured patches.

Our future puppy. Right now she is only 3 weeks old.

Of course that name will probably change, but we’ll let Hannah decide.  Thankfully, it probably won’t be changed to Otis, since I remembered that Clarabelle from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has a little female dog named Bella. Now Hannah likes Bella for a female dog.  Phew.

We were invited in for tea and coffee and we got to cuddle little Sandy for ages whilst we had a nice chat with the lovely owner of the dogs.

Sleeping on my chest and being adorable.

I’ll pick her up on Christmas Eve, bring her home after the kids are in bed, and then on Christmas morning, they will get the best Christmas present ever!  I can’t wait!  And we’re going to video their reactions, so stay tuned.

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Copyright 2013 Sheri Thomson