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...

Puppy day!!!!! I'll say this here: I think we've gotten the sweetest little pup in the world. She's sleeping on the couch next to Andrew right now. She hasn't had even one accident all day. She's played and napped and charmed the neighbors. She's perfect. But I digress. We were all so excited this morning when we headed to Hillsborough Township. We got there right at 11 and went into the office. First we got to take a look at our baby--off in a side room, in a small play area with her pink-collar chocolate sister. The breeder took her out and let Lucia and Greta take her outside to a fenced-in play area, while Andrew and I did all the paperwork. She was cuter than we even remembered. (Her pink-collared sister does have a home. I asked. I was worried.) After all the paperwork and payment was complete, we got to bring her home. Her: Farrah. It's a decadently beautiful and sophisticated name for our small cute pup. It suits her. Farrah sat on my lap i...

It's finally happened: I missed a few days of summer blogging. My excuse is simple: this entire week has been a blur of checking email five hundred times a day. We have been on pins and needles ever since sending in our puppy choices on Sunday, waiting for an email from the breeder telling us which puppy will be ours. It's all we can think about. I don't even remember too much about what we did the past few days. No clue. I just kept refreshing my email, hoping for that message. FINALLY, this morning, right before Andrew left for work, the email came. I'll save the announcement for tomorrow, puppy pickup day--but I'll say that we are all VERY VERY VERY EXCITED. Beyond excited. Now that we know which one is ours, it feels wrong that she's not here with us. It's time for her to come home. We're waiting for her. She doesn't know it yet, but she has a wonderful home and family waiting for her. She is already so loved and we don't even have her yet....

Monday, 8/26 The world was our oyster today. Nothing planned or scheduled. The weather was gorgeous. Fall-like and sunny. We just lazed around in the morning, the kids playing with various things, me dealing with the usual cauldron of intrigue with the Soisson House. It was so beautiful outside, though, that I felt like we should go somewhere. I'm not one to take the kids on a million outings--we're always happy just staying home--but today I suggested a walk and a playground at the reservoir. They said yes, but that they wanted to keep playing for a while (they were doing something outside, with scooters and a fake campfire and a bucket), and when I said that was fine, we could go whenever, Greta said, "That warms my heart." We did eventually make it to West Orange and had a nice long walk around the reservoir, spotting turtles. Then we went to the Pirate Playground. They had lots of fun, mostly swinging together while singing songs from Descendents 3. I made b...

Saturday, 8/24 LITTER VISIT DAY!!! Finally, it was here. We've been waiting forever to meet these pups. Our appointment was at 10:30am, so after a quick breakfast we headed out to Hillsborough Township, NJ, into the rural hinterlands. A labradoodle greeted us when we got out of the car and led us to the office area, and then we were taken to a little fenced-in play area. And then--the worker brought in a laundry bin full of puppies. Nine of them. Six apricot and three chocolate, all tiny. The puppies immediately began seething around us, and we sat down so they could crawl into our laps and we could hold them and play with them. THEY WERE SO CUTE. There wasn't nearly enough time to nuzzle every one as much as we wanted, because we had a job to do: make sure we took a picture of me holding each one up, so we could both see the color of its collar and tell whether it was a boy or a girl. (We had to have a clear picture of them all so we could talk about them later and make our ...

Rounding out our adventure week with Lucia's day in the city! Another great day. We all went into the city on the train this morning. Greta and Andrew went to his office, and Lucia and I headed up to Times Square. It was raining a little, but we found a Starbucks and had a little breakfast while we waited until our ticket time at Gulliver's Gate. Then it was time for our Gulliver's Gate exploration. It was so much fun. Gulliver's Gate describes itself as "the largest interactive miniature world on earth," and it's exactly that--a miniature world. Or parts of the world, to be more specific: tiny-scale replicas of cities in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the U.S. We each were given a key that, when inserted into glowing keyholes throughout the exhibit, set parts of the dioramas in motion. It was really fun. Lots of little details to discover. We'd been expecting only a miniature New York City, and were surprised to find all the international dioramas...

We were up at 4:30am last night because Greta was woken up by a cricket in her room. We tried our best to find it but couldn't, even though its chirp was insanely loud. We must have startled it enough with our noise and lights, though, because it was quiet after that and we all went back to sleep. The cleaners came this morning so the girls and I ran a bunch of errands. We went to DSW and Nordstrom Rack and both girls got sneakers for school. We went to Target and the post office. We came home and had lunch, and the girls were all over the map--playing, arguing, playing, arguing. It was driving me nuts. I was too tired to even intervene too much, but I did loudly announce I GUESS FROM ALL THIS ARGUING YOU MUST BE REALLY EXCITED FOR SCHOOL TO START, and of course Lucia was like, "I AM really excited about school." Whatever. I definitely had moments today when I felt ready for school to start. I have so much to do, just so much, and I will be glad to have some hours in ...

Greta's city day! Months ago, the girls and I decided we'd plan two city days this summer--one with just Greta and me, and one with just Lucia and me. The end of summer crept up on us so fast, but we made it happen. The girls decided Greta would go first. This morning, all four of us rode in on the train together. Lucia had a backpack full of activities (books, coloring, yarn for finger knitting) so she could spend the day in Andrew's office while he worked. At Penn Station, we split up--Andrew and Lucia onto the subway to get to Google, Greta and I out of the station to walk a few blocks to the F train. Our first destination was the Lower East Side, where we had a pastry at the Clinton St. Baking Co. and then went to Greta's choice of activity: Koneko, a Japanese cat cafe. This was an awesome cat cafe. There were two floors of cat areas, and an outdoor "catio" where most of the cats congregated. The price of admission bought us an hour of petting and play...

Sunday, 8/18 (NH) A long leisurely day in NH. It was chilly and foggy in the morning, a good morning for sleeping in (which the kids did). Then they got out the old play kitchen from the garage and played with that for a long long time. They collected crab apples from the tree at the bottom of the yard, along with a variety of berries, and cooked up lots of meals and drinks. They were completely absorbed. This is my favorite kind of playing, and the one I feel is most at risk this year, when I know both girls are going to encounter a lot of other kids who are old beyond their years and who have cast off toys and playing in favor. Ugh. I could go on and on about this and work myself into a froth, but I won't. For now. Anyhoo. At lunchtime, our cousins Peter and Sandy drove up from MA for lunch and a visit with us and Robert and Andy. We usually see them once a year and always have a fun time. Sandy brought me a new deck of tarot cards, the Rust Belt Arcana, which aligns traditio...

We had a new activity in NH today: the Cornish Fair. Andrew went when he was a kid, but I'd never been. We all went together and started off in the animal area, where we pet cows and sheep. Greta was definitely in her happy place with the sheep. If we lived in a rural area I could see her being a 4H kid, raising and caring for sheep. They were pretty cute. Then we watched a demonstration of a trained police dog, obeying the commands of his handler. We are inspired to make sure our own puppy is highly trained. The Dutch Shepherd was trained to "apprehend" a narcotics suspect, which he demonstrated by attacking a guy wearing a full-body padded suit. I definitely wouldn't want to cross that dog. Of course is outside the realm of what our doodle will be asked to do, but still. Lucia was practically fainting from hunger after that, so we paused for hot dogs. I wanted a bloomin' onion for my lunch, so we got in line there next. While we waited, the girls did this co...

Thursday, 8/16 A little bit of a setback for my editing today because camp was cancelled. L&G were full of activities, actually making a list of all the activities they wanted to do, including: finger knitting, friendship bracelets, perler beads, reading Calvin and Hobbes / Foxtrot, and much more. They mixed stuff in the tinkerspace and played with dolls. We went to the pool for a bit in the afternoon but they weren't really into it--a sure sign that summer's winding down. I had a sitter come at bedtime because Andrew as at a baseball game and I was invited to a book swap party down the street--everyone brought books they no longer wanted and took home some new books. Lots of fun. Friday, 8/17 Camp in the morning--the last day. They had such a great time. Finger knitting is definitely the biggest hit. We had a quick lunch when they got home, and then packed up for New Hampshire. When Andrew got home from work, we started out. It was a long drive. Lucia felt carsick ...

Fiber Arts Camp in the morning. More finger knitting. More reading of Fox Trot and Calvin and Hobbes. The girls both went to their friend J's house for a playdate and did some perler beads. I remembered that I actually had bought some at a yard sale years ago and put them in the attic, so I brought them out when they got home and they did that for a long time. They also played in the basement with Cabbage Patches. There is just too much to to. There is not enough summer left. Even though their camp has been amazing and they've absolutely loved it, I'm glad there are only two days left because I want them to have the final two weeks of summer as wide-open days. This was a nice little crafty interlude--and it definitely sparked some new crafting here--but now it's time for days at home to finish off the summer.

Another great day. The girls had Fiber Arts Camp this morning and did some really fun things, including more finger knitting. Then they went to a friend's house for lunch and a Cabbage Patch playdate. After I picked them up, we went to Michael's to get some thicker yarn for finger knitting. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the basement--doing puzzles, playing with my old Pillsbury Doughboy figurines, and playing with American Girls. They also read Fox  Trot and Calvin and Hobbes whenever they had a spare second. There just wasn't enough time in the day to do everything. And I feel like this is how it's going to be up to the very moment school starts. There's just not enough summer.

We're back on track. A great summer day. The girls had sewing camp in the morning, and they had such a great time today they didn't want to leave. They learned how to finger-knit, which was a huge hit. After camp, my friend and her daughter (who's in camp too) invited us to swim at the country club and have lunch, which was lots of fun. The country club pool allows pool noodles and rafts, and the girls had a blast playing with their friend.  All three girls brought Cabbage Patches to the pool. As soon as L&G got home, they began finger-knitting. They were also deep into a stack of Fox Trot and Calvin & Hobbes collections I'd found at a thrift store. Lucia was finger-knitting and reading at the same time, desperate to do both, unable to choose. They didn't change position for two and a half hours, knitting and reading. "This is so relaxing!!!" Lucia exclaimed. "I want to read and finger-knit all day!!!!" I have created mini-me's. I...

Much better day today. We didn't have any plans at all, so both girls slept in and then played with a variety of things for most of the morning. Good Luck Minis, American Girls, Mailegs, Chistmas Tsum Tsums from an Advent calendar two years ago, all in a big mix in the upstairs hallway. The game was punctuated by long, loud spells of them singing songs from The Greatest Showman (Lucia told me later the AG doll Tenney was performing). They did some large floor puzzles in the basement. They were their old selves. WTF happened the two days prior? They went with Andrew to Whole Foods in the afternoon. They played outside, drawing stuff on the driveway and riding their bikes and scooters. I took them to Dollar Tree to get new supplies for the tinkerspace. Andrew made gazpacho, grilled chicken legs, and chili-lime Mexican street corn for dinner. All delicious. Other activities: Lucia worked on a friendship bracelet, Greta read a Fox Trot comic strip collection. In other words, they w...