The Toddler and the Tweenager

People aren't lying when they tell you that time goes by so fast when you're raising kids. We suddenly have a tween in our midst. The attitude started several months before her most recent birthday, but I feel like now that she's officially in that age bracket, everything has been amplified.  

Merle is like having a toddler - he's into everything while we're gone. He won't turn two until this August. I know his puppy habits won't magically disappear when he has his birthday, but maybe they'll start to ween themselves out.  

Lent started yesterday, and I decided to give up more sugar than I usually do for the season.  Walking Merle has helped me lose five pounds in about two and a half months, but I'd like to lose at least five more. Wine, especially white wine, has a decent amount of sugar in it.  Last night, all I wanted was a piece of chocolate for dessert!  The way things have gone today, I wonder if I'll last all forty days without anything sweet besides fruit; which brings up an interesting point.  As I type this, I'm trying to rationalize giving up wine - grapes are fruit, and I'm not giving up apples, pears, citrus, berries, or any other type of natural sweets...  

I think I'll go do a face mask and try to relax. 

Children!

Hold up!  Peanut butter bacon shake at Sonic....skkkkeeerrrrt!!!!!

And now, back to these messages. Sorry, the TV commercial diverted my attention.

Y'all, today my daughter was out of school and I was off of work for MLK, Jr. Day. She's almost officially a tweenager (in 10 days she'll hit double digits!) and has a semi-'tude every ten minutes, and our furry boy ran away.  

We've had him for two months now, and even though he has definitely had some training, he's still a puppy and has a lot to learn.  There are a lot of times that I think back to the days of Dash and Rusty, the dachshunds that my parents had. Dash was an empath. If I was sad, he would snuggle and if he was not keen on a boyfriend of mine, he'd let me know every time the guy was visiting my parents's house.  Unfortunately, he did not care for my college boyfriend or my husband - the two best guys I dated out of many unqualified candidates. 

Merle is not an empath at all. When our girl has gotten upset, he still wants to play fetch. Today when he wandered off and the neighborhood kids went on a search and rescue mission for me, he seemed unphased that "Sissy" was crying that he may be gone for good. In my mind only, I kept thinking, "Get it together, kiddo! We've got to stay level-headed to find your brother!". Out loud, I just divvied up the teams and sent them on their mission. The boys found him sniffing around a friend's yard around the block. The girls went running toward them, all screaming his name when he was galavanting toward me like, it was his time on the podium at the Olympics.  

Our tweenager's main priority is her friends. Even though she was crying from the get-go about Merle, she went right back to playing with her friends as soon as he got his leash hooked on and walked back up the driveway. Tonight, she didn't spend any more time with him than normal.  She had dinner with us, showered, and played Switch, just like always.  Sigh. Between her and Merle, I'll be having daiquiris for breakfast before my fiftieth birthday.  

Best Friend, Merle

We've adopted a dog!  Our little human has always wanted a younger brother, and now she has one - he's just fluffy!  Merle is about a year and four months old.  We discovered him at a Humane Society adoption event at the church parish fair and did a weekend sleepover.  He made a great first impression on us.  He was already fully potty trained and knew basic commands, and he was great with the fair crowds and other pups.  

The following Monday, my husband and I officially adopted him. He's such a sweet and good boy.   His paperwork says that he's part Australian Shepherd, but he's got long legs, so we think he may also be part Catahoula or another type of herding dog.  He's very smart and energetic, so he needs lots of activities to keep him from getting bored and destructive.  

He's the biggest dog that I've ever had.  My parents' first child was their black lab, Soapy (Sapporo).  Sadly, he got hit by a car when I was in early elementary school and had to get put down.  Then, when I was in college, Mom and Dad had two mini-dachshunds.  They were around until I was in my thirties.  Both dogs lived into their teens.  I don't like dog years, but if you do that math, they were old guys.  Anyway, none of them were as big as this guy is, and he thinks he's smaller than he is, too!  The other night, he climbed up on my husband and I's laps to snuggle.  It was adorable, all fifty-plus pounds of him!

Now I can say that I'm mom to a human, plants, and a pup!