This has been an interesting week for our little family. Not only have I reinforced some pretty strict rules on house training for the pooch, we were also splashed with a nice, icy dose of a new reality. Our little princess had to start daycare this week. Not biggie, right? Em… Well, not so easy, really. In a few days’ time, I had to reinvent our entire routine and hope the little one can adapt quickly. Because of the addition of daycare, instead of me getting up at 6:00, and letting the little one sleep in, I am now up at 5:20. I walk the dog, feed the dog, hit the shower, get dressed, wake Baby Girl, get her dressed, get her to eat breakfast, take the dog out one last time, and out the door by 7:20. She would normally sleep in till about 8:30 – 9-ish when my parents were with us (the rules were virtually non-existent when she stayed with them). oh yes, to make all of this work, I also prepare her and my meals before going to bed the night before. I even determine what's for breakfast and get as much of it as possible ready at that time, that way I have a few less steps to deal with in the morning. I still don’t have all the steps quite right but it’s getting there. Of course, we also had to get the little one into her daycare routine, which is another challenge altogether. She now has to get used to eating at a particular time but more importantly, get into her crib and go to sleep. And that, ladies and gentlemen is the monster hurdle. See, at one point I used to be able to put the little one in her crib and she would kind of just hang out, get her pacifier and go to sleep. Then my parents insisted on holding her to put her to sleep, and then we were done. My Mom even got offended by my efforts to try to get her to sleep on her own. I was in the room with the baby, mind you, just not holding her. This made the little one wail like a banshee. It got to the point where I had to kick my Mom out of the baby’s room when she stormed in demanding to take the baby to their room till she fell asleep. Awesome. But yes, we were entirely too lenient and took the path of least resistance, and now we find ourselves with a kid who refuses to fall asleep on her own. Note to self, for the future, tough it out. So yes, in daycare, she is put in her pack and play and is expected to sleep. We’re in day three and she is still putting up a good fight. But the woman who runs the daycare is no-nonsense and it shows. The little one has been fussing a touch less about getting into her crib. The one great thing about daycare is that because she is more or less playing for the majority of the day, she has been coming home pooped. I love it, by 8:30 she starts saying, "night night." Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Baby Girl, but she can make it difficult to do things like clean the house after dinner or even relax before my bed time. The other aspect that we had to deal with is the complete overhaul of our finances. I knew daycare is expensive but damn, it stings. Over the next few months I will have to don my Mr. Scrooge top hat and slash expenses across the board. I’m so not going to enjoy that but ah well. Until I win the Powerball—which by the way, is the kind of frivolous spending that I am cutting out of our budget— this will have to be the new normal. F- me!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
A Spot of Light
You know, I suppose there is one good thing about the whole daycare crisis thing. And that’s that I finally get to bust out my bento box stuff. For a few months now, I have been collecting bento box tools. I kinda have a thing for the irresistible cuteness of stylized bento boxes.
What The-What?!
File this under, "really?!": Last night my parents told me that they aren’t going to be able to watch Baby Girl— At all. They have a huge construction project going on at their place and they said they can’t keep coming down to watch the baby like they've been doing for months. So now, rather than putting Baby Girl in daycare next month, she’ll be going in next week. Awesome. I can’t even begin to say how this messes us up. But I can’t let this get me stressed out. I really have other things I need to focus on. One of the main things is getting the dog back on track with his training. Until Saturday, we were doing really well with the training. Then Aaron had to come and completely mess things up. I went out on Saturday (late morning to midafternoon) and asked him to make sure to take him out before he goes to bed (noon-ish). What does he do? Ignores what I asked him to do. So the poor dog pooped and peed all over his bed, inside his crate. This pissed me off because now the damn dog thinks doing his business inside his crate is okay. F**K me! Aaron, of course didn’t think that would be the case and wondered why I was so mad. That is, until he started ‘going’ inside his crate again. Hu-f***ing-zah! So now we’re back at square one with having to take him out every three hours till he gets back into the swing of things. Once again, Aaron doesn’t think it’ll be hard. No, of course not. That’s because he’s not the one doing the training. I am. He just comes home, maybe takes him out for like, five minutes. Then tells me, “he didn’t do anything,” or “I can’t get him to ‘go’ outside” and puts him back in his crate. Oh wait, it gets better, he outright doesn’t bother to take the dog out if it’s raining. The jerk actually purposely let him go on his pad inside, rather than once again— adhere to my strict orders on when to take him out— because it was raining outside. WHAT?! Meanwhile, I’m once again getting mad because this sets him back some more. Tell him that the rain isn’t going to mean he won’t have to go to the bathroom. I swear, sometimes it’s like I am living with another child. Oh and don’t even get me started on the behavior. He completely lets the dog get away with anything. I constantly correct behavior and am left wondering why nothing seems to stick. Case in point, he just lets the dog nip at feet and pant legs. This doesn’t fly with me. He also lets the dog take the lead during walks. Nope. I absolutely keep him at my side (side holding the leash) and keep the leash short to keep him from taking over. I know what you’re thinking, I sound a little militant with the training. And you would be dead on. I am strict. I would much rather be strict now than have to train a dog out of bad habits. Sigh... I swear sometimes, I just want to tell people to piss off so that I can cuddle with Baby Girl on the couch and watch Peppa Pig.
