Hotel Rwanda

Saw Hotel Rwanda the other day. Very gripping, emotionally draining. Definitely worth seeing.

Dog Tales

So Jake will be leaving tomorrow. She's been here a total of six days, and has pooped in the house six times, and peed in the house at least as many. The grossest by far was the pile she left on the floor next to my side of the bed, just before bedtime, which I discovered as I was crawling into bed with the lights out and nothing on my feet. Three feet is about how high I jumped, and I cursed pretty loudly too, loud enough to make Mary jump.

Mary thinks we are just missing Jake's cues for wanting to go out. Personally I don't think Jake gives any cues, unless you count managing to see her sniff around on your floor to find a spot to go. That's not a cue in my book however. A cue is a dog sitting at the door barking or whining. A dog sniffing around my house is simply a dog trying to find a way to do it's thing. And there is no chance that I'm going to spot a "cue" as quiet as that when I'm trying to tend to the needs and desires of a three year old and a nine month old.

And then there is the compost pile in our back yard, which Jake discovered one her second day here and has concluded is her own personal buffet.

Oh, and then there is the jumping up on the table. Not just jumping up on a chair and then putting the front paws on the table, but actually jumping onto the top of the table and walking around in search of food. Very gutsy on Jake's part, to be sure.

To read these posts would make one think the dog has been nothing but trouble. To be fair there are some sweet moments, like when the dog is extremely mellow in the afternoon. She fits right in with nap time thankfully. And Isaac has really taken to her, crawling up to her and stealing her toys, which she steals back. And when Isaac sits on her, she doesn't bite, but just lies there and takes it. Here's a video to give you a good idea...



To be fair, I haven't always been the best dog sitter, as there was one day that I thought I was only going to be gone for four hours and it ended up being nine.

None the less, it will be nice to be able to focus on only two kids again. I'm not ruling out dog-sitting in the future, but "Jakie-Brakie" will need to be able to but a brake on the bladder and communicate her need to go outside before she can vacation here again.

Dress Rehearsal

Sofi was reading a book in which a little girl uses a sheet to become a ghost, and as soon as we were done reading she said she wanted to do that. Why not, I thought, and we headed to the basement to find a sheet.

We had a difficult time lining up the eye holes, so she wasn't to crazy about her costume in the end. But I enjoyed the spontaneity of it all.

Mary found the cat ears for Isaac the other day while she was looking for a new season of clothes to bring up into his room.

Emptying the Dishwasher

Today I handed Sofi the silverware basket from the dishwasher and asked her to put away her and Isaac's utensils, which she has done in the past easily enough. But she ended up going above and beyond my expectations, because when she finished putting those utensils away she continued putting the rest of the utensils in the basket away. And not only was it gesture, but she actually did it correctly. The forks went with the rest of the forks, the knives with the knives, etc.

The entire basket was put away, and in the correct places! I was very impressed! It is the little things like this that amaze me.

Ear Plugs can Plug More than Ears

For some reason ear plugs have been a scarce resource in our household. Which is unfortunate because I use them every night.

I've been suspecting that there is an elf, one that is three years old, that has been finding them and squirreling them away. Who knows where. Could be anywhere. I've often found Disney princesses hiding in my shoes. This makes sense I guess, at least for Cinderella. But where my ear plugs go I'm not certain.

In reality they are probably falling under the bed, because I often misplace them when I wake in the middle of the night and take them out to take care of Isaac.

Well Mary has discovered that if they truly had fallen under the bed, they aren't there anymore. This evening, as Mary was making a trip out to our compost pile behind the garden she noticed some poop... some very colorful poop. Blue and purple to be exact. The colors of the ear plugs we use. Upon closer inspection, sure enough, that what was in the poop. Almost the exact same size of the poop.

And not just one or two. Six total. And this isn't a trial thing either I'm told. Mary's found Jake on our bed leaning to reach the book shelf where Mary keeps her ear plugs.

Thankfully these ear plugs aren't plugging anything else, though I wouldn't mind really, because I certainly didn't enjoy cleaning up the pile left in the front room this morning.

Isaac's 9 Month Check-up

Isaac went in for his 9 month check-up today. Weighed in at 17 pounds 2 ounces. 29.5 inches tall. I don't recall where this falls percentile wise, but it must not be extreme on either end, otherwise I'd remember it. Perhaps Mary remembers, I'll have to ask her, because I do recall her being worried that he wasn't high enough in the percentile for weight. As she put it, and I paraphrase, "He's just one sickness away from being under weight". Guess we all have to worry about something.

What blows me away is how well he handles the whole thing. He is so easy going, even when Kris the Nurse-Practitioner is looking in his eye, mouth and probing in his ears. Sofi hated that part of the exam and cried loudly when she was she was this age.

He only really cries when he gets vaccine shots, which he did today, and even then he doesn't really cry all that long. I happened to be with Sofi in the waiting room when he got his shots, and when he came out I couldn't even tell he had been given any shots.

Table Set

At lunch today Sofi actually set the table for three... herself, me and Isaac. She actually got out two settings of silverware (she did get herself an adult setting... is she trying to tell me something?), and two bowls and plates. The amazing thing about the bowls is that we actually needed them, as we were having soup. Did she actually notice this without me telling her? And she got out two spoons for Isaac (baby spoons too, not adult ones)... as she put it: "One for Isaac to chew on, and one to for eating".

Anyway, I was impressed to say the least. It was a little act that meant a lot.

Isaac is enjoying the dog sitting. He wants to be on the floor to chase the dog, but Jake gets right in his face, so Isaac doesn't often ends up getting more than he bargained for. Jake is starting to mellow (thankfully!)

Dog Duty

Constantly chasing after her, telling her not to do this and that, taking things away from her that she's not suppose to have, feeding her, and occasionally cleaning up after her... If you think I'm talking about Sofi, you'd be wrong.

"Jakie-Brakie", Sofi's name for my parent's "shitty-poo" (as it turns out an apt nickname for this particular shitzoo/poodle mix) arrived last night to stay for the week. And after being woken up early by her whining and barking at seeing her matriarch leave at 5:45 am, and after wiping up after her and pulling numerous children toys from her mouth... I can already say after caring for her only a couple of hours that I've no desire for a dog. I certainly don't need another bundle of energy to manage.

In regards to the wiping up after her, that wouldn't be so bad if I happened to be the first one to discover the mess. Unfortunately Jake chose to relieve herself while I was in another room getting the diaper bag ready for our trip to the library, and Isaac happened to be the first one to discover the puddle. Crawled right through it. So not only did I end up cleaning up after Jake as I was trying to get the kids to the library, I had to quarantine my son so that he wouldn't continue to explore the puddle, and once I was finished with the puddle I had to change Isaac's clothes! Ya know, it takes long enough getting out the door with two kids! Who needs a dog that goes indoors, even after having been outside may I add!

The dog feels so much like a extra child that I find myself calling him "Isaac" (and for some reason calling Isaac "Jake"... maybe because the both move around on all fours?). Honestly, if this is what it feels like to have three kids, I'm getting snipped.