Just a Quick One.

Just wanting to record B's newest idiosyncrasy:
I will ask her to do something, for example "go get the fruit snacks, " and she will reply, all in one breath, "I can't reach them, but I can." Or she'll say 'I don't want to do that, but I do.' It's like she changes her mind without even pausing to think. She's started using these double sentences all the time!
"I'm going to put this in here, but I won't."
I wish I had a recording, because I really can't catch the funny inflections on here.
Anyway, perhaps only interesting to me!

This is much more interesting:
Baby Jo has been pooping at least 8 times a day (not an exaggeration) for almost a week now. It has been solid about half the time and runny about half - but today has been straight diarrhea each time. We go to the doctor for shots on Tuesday - so I'm going to get her checked out! Hopefully it's nothing serious - she hasn't been acting like she feels bad. I wasn't too worried, but now that we're in our 6th day of it....
I bought her some Gatorade and have taken fruits and dairy out of her diet to see if that helps.

*The girls don't miss the dog at all and seem to enjoy pretending to be a dog much more than they ever enjoyed having one. Unfortunately, I have not been cured of the desire to have a pet. But we decided that we need to wait a few months and get our finances all straight before we venture into the world of pet adoption again. Maybe we'll get lucky and the perfect dog/pet will fall right into our laps! HA!

Nothing says fun like making instant pudding in a butter tub!

Fail!

Well we got a puppy. I started having second thoughts before we even brought him home. But I always have second thoughts, so I have trouble distinguishing the correct from incorrect.

Anyway, my girls are not ready for a puppy. A. has not come off of the couches/lawn chairs since he's been here. Even when he's sleeping she keeps at least 5 or more feet between herself and the dog. He really is a good little puppy as puppies go. I think he'd be easy to train and he's got a nice little nature.

But, he is also ALL teeth. You can not pet him without a bite. I know all puppies bite and chew - but this one is definitely on the extreme biter/chewer end of the spectrum. And the whole "give them something they are allowed to chew on, so they won't chew on things they are not supposed to chew on" philosophy has not been working out for us. 'Jaws' prefers human flesh when he gnaws. I don't think we'd make it through 2 and a half more months of teething.

I told the girls this morning that we had decided to take the dog back. B. cried a little, but after I explained that the dog would not quit biting for quite a while and that he was not going to stay little, she seemed ok with the decision. I asked A. how she felt about it and she said she wants to get a different dog. We'll see.

Baby Jo loves doggie when he's nice and cries when he bites - but she feels the same way about her sisters, so I think she'll be ok.

Here's hoping doggie gets a better, more tolerant home!

Perplexities of Four-year old interaction

This morning I gave A. the coveted Ariel spoon. She had been having a bit of a rough morning, and I had just stopped her attempt at annoying her sister by stealing her sister's seat at the table. When she received the spoon, she celebrated, and B, who generally rejoices with others, celebrated along with her. Then, A. told us (in her best taunting voice) that she had the Ariel fork last night and now she had the Ariel spoon too. B, as expected, launched into a full cry at the unfairness of Mom and life in general. I expected the situation to escalate with A. continuing her taunting and B. continuing her shrieking.
However, A., very surprisingly, said she had the Ariel fork last night so it was B's turn for the spoon and requested that I switch the utensils. Shocking coming from the Queen of Inciting-lots-of-Negative-Reactions-on-Purpose.
Every time I start thinking I can predict their behavior, they change it up on me.

Baby Jo just go in trouble, again, for pulling the chair out and climbing onto the dining room table. This time she was sprinkling the table with the contents of one of her sister's cups. She's becoming quite adept at moving the chairs around the kitchen.

And, keeping with the theme of parents that can only talk about the sleeping and pooping habits of their children:
Baby Jo continues to wake up too early for me, but she seems to be settling on around 8:00 am. She slept in until 8:30 this morning. Sad that I felt like it was so late in the morning.....ALL of the rest of the family wish that she would sleep just a bit later.
On poo - several times in the past Baby Jo has had a bit of diaper rash because she had a poopy diaper that we couldn't smell. Sort of a good/bad thing. But the last 2 days - WHEW it has been instantly obvious that she has a full load. Blech! Daddy has not encountered one of these diapers - I think if he does he will flat out refuse to change them for fear of gagging :)

We are still having trouble finding just the right doggie. Most of the ones available for adoption are too big or pit bulls. I took a 'which breed is right for you' quiz on Iams.com. It's nice because they give you a huge list of possible breeds and the percentage match for each. After looking at the list I started looking into Spaniels - they seem to be easy to train and are good with children. They are also seemingly hard to find around here. The spaniel rescue will not let families with children under 7 adopt puppies!?!?! Geez. I feel like calling them and arguing with them...but I won't. I found a Cocker Spaniel/Corgie mix puppy on craigslist. Very cute - seems like the perfect mix for us - they want 225 dollars for her. Shocking. So, the search continues. We have a few rescue groups we visit every Saturday. One of them had the perfect dog, in my opinion, but they had it before we had finalized on our house. I feel like I am definitely making mountains out of mole-hills with this dog thing. But I like to be prepared, and a dog will be a big adjustment for all of us, so I want to make sure it's one that we will all be ok with in the long run.

Well, I suppose I should go join the girls in watching 'The Penguins of Madagascar'...or I could fold some more laundry....or both!