Skipping Town

I don't know what to do about Farrah's 8pm witching hour. She is really the best pup--all day, she's either chewing on a toy, napping, playing joyfully with me, obediently going outside to pee, or working on training exercises. She is nailing "sit" and "down," and today we started "stay." She's so sweet and cute etc etc etc. And yet. Come 8pm, right in the heart of bedtime, when I'm already tired and stretched to the max trying to herd two children to bed, she completely unhinges. I mean--she is nuts. Running around the upstairs at top speed, yipping and growling, trying to jump on us and basically eat our arms and faces. It's insane. Insane. Tonight, Greta valiantly tried throwing a million toys for her, but Farrah was beyond toys. She was almost airborne. I had to finally stop reading to the girls and take Farrah downstairs. Of course there was still bedtime stuff to do, so I penned her into the kitchen with baby gates and went

It's not often that I have a genuinely terrible day. Like awful awful. Today was one such day. Andrew's out of town, so I'm on my own with the kids and the puppy, which means I was on my own last night (and every night this week) for bedtime with kids and puppy, and the morning (and every morning this week) with kids and puppy, and the logistics I've had down to a science for the past few years are now no longer relevant. Getting dressed and taking the puppy out and getting the girls ready and making lunches and breakfast and etc etc is difficult, to say the least, when I'm on my own. But I did manage to get everyone out the door. Now I just have to do it again three more times till Andrew comes home Friday night. I got word early in the morning that our seemingly solid tenant for the Soisson House has a whole host of complexities that I obviously cannot detail here but which had me deep in the dark side of Connellsville for most of the day. I ran the gamut of ext

First day of school! It's going to take a bit of practice to work the puppy into our morning routine, but we did okay today and everyone got to school on time. I walked with Lucia but parents can't go into the school for fourth graders, so after leaving her with some friends I walked back home and went with Greta and Andrew to the bus stop. Greta still wishes it was summer, but she seemed happy enough to get on the bus. Then we went to Greta's school, and I went into her classroom just for a minute with the rest of the parents while Andrew loitered outside the school with Farrah. Both girls came home happy. I made an early dinner because Greta had soccer practice tonght from 6-7:30. We are all gearing up for the busy season ahead. Farrah seems like she's recovering well from her ear infections--she was really playful and active today and did lots of running around. I think she's feeling better. Giving her the ear medicine (drops in the ear) isn't easy, but i

This is it. The last day of summer. The kids finally go back to school tomorrow. It feels like the end--the pool closed over the weekend, there's a feeling of fall in the air, and already the long free days seem distant. We spent the day picking medicine up at the vet's (Farrah's stool sample revealed roundworms and giardia), cleaning the house up for house cleaning tomorrow, making a cake (boxed), and getting the girls' hair cut. I gave them each a graphic novel they've been anxiously waiting for as an end-of-summer gift, and they immediately sat down and read them straight through. I took Farrah outside one million times and cleaned up two accidents inside. I hand-fed her for one million hours (she is reluctant to eat from her food bowl). I nearly cried one hundred times over how upset I am that our precious puppy is suffering from all these things and can't even fully embrace/explore her new home until we get all this sorted out. I mourned the idea of the k

Farrah's been settling in well. She's started eating a bit more, and each night she's done better in the crate. Last night she slept from 3am till 8am--not bad at all for such a little pup. The bad news is that she has a double ear infection. On Sunday we noticed some yellow discharge in her ear, and she was scratching it a lot; I called the emergency vet office, but they said it was probably okay to wait till our scheduled appointment, which was today. Her appointment was this morning, and the vet took one look at her ears and diagnosed infections in BOTH. Poor little baby. Some of her unwillingness to eat and her seeming uneasiness were possibly linked to pain. Not winning any awards here for Best Dog Mom. I feel terrible. We have medicine now and she should feel better in a day or two.  So that's how today started: at the vet, with news that our precious pupper is sick. The afternoon was okay; L&G played with some neighbor kids for a little while, at their hou

We love our Farrah. She is the sweetest. She had a good first day. She is still not sure about any of this--has a worried look on her little face and is still not eating. She threw up once under the couch--maybe too many treats to encourage pottying and walking on the leash? Who knows. She also napped a lot. Of course I've found a million reasons to worry about her and am very glad we have a vet appointment on Tuesday--I have so many questions. She did pretty well her first night in the crate, which is right next to my side of the bed. She was OUTRAGED when we put her in. Outraged. She was so calm and sweet and docile all day, and then we put her in the crate when we went to bed and she showed us that yes, she can bark and cry and whine along with the best of them. She went bananas. I'd read enough puppy books to know that taking her out was exactly what we shouldn't do, so I lay down in front of her crate and put my hands through the slats to pet her while I sang Twinkle