Potty Training

Not Audrey. She's been potty trained for a couple years now, thankfully. The dog on the other hand ...
 

who, me?

I swear, potty training Audrey was easier. Why can't puppies just wear diapers till they're old enough to get the whole potty training thing? They make diapers for senior dogs with health issues, don't they?

Madelyn was drastically improving but then had a setback, seemingly out of nowhere. Not only did she stop holding it through the night, she wouldn't last even a couple hours in the crate, no matter how many walks she went on. We didn't think it was a health issue, because everything else was fine. She's started to improve again, but who knows how long this will last.

I had jokingly said a few days ago that if the dog didn't stop peeing on the floor I was going to put a pull-up on her. I kept a handful for some reason after Audrey no longer needed them. This morning, Maddie peed on the kitchen floor, and Audrey remembered my comment. She ran and grabbed a pull-up and we put it on the dog, just for fun. She got it off pretty quickly. Wishful thinking.

Um, what is this, human?

 

Get. It. Off.

Anyway, I hope the regression was a one time thing, and she continues to improve from here.

Bits of Our Weekend

This weekend was mostly the usual - gymnastics Saturday morning, some errands, etc. Saturday evening we went to the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy. I've gone almost every year for ten or so years now, and I swear it gets crazier every year. Going on a Saturday was definitely a mistake. We could barely walk, and someone had to carry Audrey the whole time because I was afraid she was going to get trampled. We didn't really eat the street food, we just went straight to our favorite restaurant, Da Nico. I love that place, the food is delicious and the service is almost always great, but I swear they jacked up the prices - whether permanently or just for the festival, I don't know - but everything was definitely a few dollars more than I remember.

She insisted on wearing the crown headband. Like most kids, she's obsessed with band-aids. There was no real reason for wearing this one. And she stole the glasses from Uncle James. Queen of the hipsters.

 

We didn't stick around long afterwards. I grabbed some of the flavored cannoli from Stuffed Artisan Cannoli's stand. This is one of my favorite things about the festival (ok, at this point probably my only reason for still going). They don't have a storefront, but they make awesome flavored cannoli - birthday cake, cookies and cream, peanut butter chocolate.

 

She wanted to sit outside and blow bubbles, so we took the dog so she could get some fresh air too. Maddie was quite interested in the bubbles for a while, but then her attention shifted to digging in the little bit of dirt she could reach.

 

Friday's outfit, chosen entirely by Audrey. She asked for a picture but when I tell her to smile this is what I get ...

Bits of Our Weekend

This past weekend was the first in what will probably be a series of quiet weekends in the city. We go to Florida at the end of the month, so this past weekend and the next two leading up to our trip will be low-key (in other words, inexpensive).

Scaffolding - the jungle gym of the sidewalks. Classy.

The most exciting part of our weekend was Audrey's first gymnastics class. I had signed her up for weekly gymnastics classes for the Fall semester over the summer, and they finally started on Saturday. She was very excited, and in the days leading up to the class kept telling me she needed to wear a "bathing suit" to gymnastics. I didn't buy her a leotard right away, I wanted to make sure she liked it before spending any more money. The kids could also wear shorts and a t-shirt, so that's what I sent her in. I noticed most other kids were wearing the same, so she didn't feel left out for not having a leotard on.

Parents weren't allowed in the studio, I watched from a tv in the seating area that overlooks the gym.

My less than stellar view :(

After gymnastics, we did a carousel ride in Chelsea Waterside then ran a couple errands. It was supposed to rain on and off all afternoon, so we went home a little early, and other than a quick walk for the dog, stayed in for the day.

Oh you know, just waiting for the horses to go by so we can cross

On Sunday, Audrey was with her father so I used the afternoon to run some errands, clean up a bit and watch a couple episodes of Game of Thrones.  I also made a pot of this sauce, because we were almost out of the previous batch.
 

A quick Scooter ride Friday after preschool

 
 
 

Post Walk, little fox.

Overwhelmed

Quote: Andy Dwyer, Parks & Rec, Pic: Buzzfeed

Lately I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed: the frustration that is family court, finances, taking care of a child on my own, dealing with the puppy, classes resuming and work picking back up now that summer has ended, etc.

I'll be the first to admit that patience is not my strongest quality. Whining drives me nuts. I get overly irritated when the dog pees on the floor. Ironically, I've been told I have the "patience of a saint" at work for being able to put up with my boss. Maybe it's the fact that although he behaves unreasonably sometimes, I'm able to actually communicate with him? I can explain to my boss why his request is unrealistic or why he's being overly difficult. I cannot, unfortunately, explain to the dog why the carpet is not an acceptable place to urinate. I just have to teach and reinforce consistently, and hope she gets it eventually. Same with Audrey. Well, Audrey doesn't pee on the carpet. Anymore. But I have to explain why whining is not the way to get what you want over and over again. I have to repeat requests multiple times sometimes, and then explain why this is not ok. Although bedtime rolls around every day, I still have to deal with the inevitable "Noooo! Please five more minutes!" (I have started giving several warnings leading up to bedtime and have found that helps).

I have to remind myself to take a deep breath when I want to freak out. I have to remind myself not to stress over the small stuff. I have to remind myself that my kid is happy, healthy, and has everything she needs and then some. I have a good job, a nice home in a great neighborhood, a life I've built for myself. I need to remember to pat myself on the back once in a while. I may have dived into this motherhood thing totally unprepared, without a clue as to what I was doing, but I'm clearly doing something right. So although I do need to continue to work on my patience, I shouldn't beat myself up over feeling overwhelmed occasionally.

Puppy Update

 

Maddy the Guard Dog

 



A Pic from the Breeder at ~8 weeks old - She already looks different!

I was wary of getting a dog for a long time, and rightfully so. This dog is adorable, sweet, funny ... and a headache. I knew getting a puppy wouldn't be easy. We got our cat when he was still a kitten but he picked up on the litterbox thing immediately, and with the exception of a UTI that threw things out of loop for awhile, has been a great cat.

Potty training with Maddy has been slow moving. We are using the wee wee pads and a crate, but it didn't seem to be working, so I bought one of those folding pens that can be configured as small as you want, in any shape you want. I read that this is great for "passive training," when you can't keep your eye on the dog every second to actually move them to a pad when you see them sniffing around. I covered the whole floor area of the pen with pads, and then praise her everytime I see her going to the bathroom, because she has no choice but to go on the pads. Then I started cutting down the number of pads in the pen. It seems to have helped. She has far less accidents when she's roaming free around the apartment, as long as we have a couple pads strategically placed.

"Far less accidents" doesn't mean "no accidents" though. It just means 1 miss for every 5 successes, as opposed to 1 succcess for every 5 misses, which had been the case for the first week or so. She's still crated at night, which is frustrating, because she starts crying/barking as early as 5:30 in the morning. I tried attaching the pen to the crate, so the crate opened into the pen, and put pads in the pen. I left the crate open so she could sleep in it, and come out and have a little more space when she wanted. This didn't help. Not only did she still start crying for attention at 6 in the morning, but she also shredded her pad and then went on the floor because she no longer had a pad to use. That was a fun mess to clean up.

There are other little puppy behaviors we're working on - the nipping, jumping on people, playing in her water bowl and making a big mess. I know these and the potty training will all be resolved soon (eventually?), and I can't wait.

Even though we started the potty training inside, she still goes for walks, to get fresh air, exercise and meet people so she's not shy/aggressive later. She still gets so much attention - people stop to say hi, pet her, even take her picture. Sometimes she just stops for no reason and lays down on the sidewalk. Ooook, Maddy.

Bum.

She's still trying hard to befriend the cat. Or maybe just herd him. (Corgis are herding dogs.) Either way, he isn't having it. Max has a lot of patience with her, and usually just walks away or hisses at Maddy when she's getting on his nerves, but the other day I guess she nipped at him one too many times and got a swat on the face.

 

The little scratch on her nose ... poor baby.

She's adorable, so as crazy as she drives me, the little doggy smile or her silly little legs or her big ears always win me over.

I still can't wait till she's outgrown the puppy stage though.

Belated Bits of our Weekend



FOR NARNIA!!



I didn't plan on doing a Bits of Our Weekend post this week, because we didn't do much this weekend, but for continuity's sake - why not?

 

Yea, IDK why she insisted on wearing this get up out, but I just rolled with it.

On Saturday, we headed over to Chelsea Piers. I wanted to check out their birthday party situation and the gymnastics classes. Those are two expensive things that Audrey very badly wants this year, and I don't want to have to tell her no, so we will see how things pan out. Birthday parties in New York ... ugh. Most people's apartments are too small to host a party. If you have a Spring/Summer/Early Fall baby - great, set up shop in a park, order a few pizzas and call it a day. But Audrey's birthday is in November, which means I need to find something indoors. And everything indoors expects your child's weight in gold as payment. I'm seriously considering shelling out for this though, for a few reasons. First, I didn't do it last year. She was new at her school, and I wasn't sure enough kids would show up for it to be worth the expense. But this will be her second year at the school, and her last year with this group of kids. Second, this will be her birthday present. I will do something small for her to open the morning of her birthday, but I won't go crazy. And lastly, I don't plan on doing it every year. Next November, she will be in a new school again, with all new kids. So I will probably skip it again and just make the big birthday party an every other year thing till she's old enough to just have sleepovers with a couple friends or something. Or till we throw in the towel on New York ...

 

Audrey's first experience with face painting - she loved it.

 

Speaking of Birthday parties, Audrey had two this weekend. One on Saturday and one on Sunday. An entire weekend of birthday parties. Awesome for Audrey, not so much for me. One of the invitations said "No presents necessary." Perfect. The other one didn't, but I totally spaced on buying a present, which meant a last minute effort. Literally last minute - the party started at 3, and I remembered we needed a present at 2:40, as we were walking out the door. I ran back inside and grabbed a gift bag and some tissue paper I happened to have laying around from my own birthday a couple weeks ago and we went to the closest place I could think of that would have toys - CVS. Oh boy. This resulted in purchasing a remote control helicopter that was marked "Ages 8 and up" for a 4 year old. Oops.

 



Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.





The rest of our weekend was spent at the park and running errands, and of course, trying to potty train the pup without going crazy.



Those little legs ...



Bits of Our Weekend



Random graffiti on my walk to Trader Joe's


This weekend was my "birthday weekend" - but is it still a birthday weekend when you have a three year old and can't really afford extra childcare? There definitely wasn't anything special about this weekend. Audrey was my dinner date Friday evening. We went to a Chinese restaurant around the corner. I think I've decided I don't care for Chinese much anymore. Isn't that weird? To suddenly stop liking a food as an adult? It could be the fact that a few months ago I caught a nasty stomach bug, and Chinese had been the last thing I had eaten before I was violently ill. It wasn't the food's fault, but - guilty by association? Anyway, afterwards, we had cupcakes at home and I was in bed by 11. Woohoo, Friday night AND it was my birthday. What an exciting life I lead.

 

 

On Saturday, Audrey and I met a friend for brunch. I did start on one of my goals for the summer - to try new restaurants. For lunch we went to Tello. 

 

Blurry picture but these two together always melts my heart.

That evening, the man friend came to visit and we went to another neighborhood restaurant I hadn't tried, Pepe Giallo. Afterwards, we got ice cream from a truck, walked home and ate it on the stoop. The three meals out in one weekend was about the extent of my birthday celebration. Oh, and let's not forget the ABC Family Harry Potter Movie Marathon. I did mention how cool I am, right?

 

Using her snake toy as a pillow. Puppy life is exhausting.

We spent most of this weekend close to home because we're still potty training this little pup. So naughty, but so cute. Between lunch and dinner Saturday, we went to the park around the corner and ran a couple errands. On Sunday, Audrey spent a few hours with her father. I walked the dog, relaxed and went grocery shopping. I was a little too ambitious at Trader Joes - $90 worth of groceries, including a watermelon, and I was convinced I could carry it all home, instead of waiting for delivery. Bad idea. Very bad idea. I had to stop every 100 steps or so to adjust, was dripping sweat by the time I got home and my shoulders hurt today. Pathetic.

A Girl & Her Dog

Audrey & Maddy

We haven't started crate training yet - we plan to start Saturday, because between my brother and I, one of us can be home most of the day with the puppy for 5-6 straight days starting then. So for now, we are just taking her outside to get her used to walking on a leash. These two got so much attention during our outing yesterday. Literally every single person we passed stopped to gush over them, pet the dog, ask Audrey questions about the puppy. One girl even asked to take a picture of Maddy. They're both hams, they loved the attention.