I had a rough morning. I woke up to the sound of Clyde (my big dog) killing a raccoon under our bedroom window. Of course I didn't know that's what it was at first. I had Acorn cradled in my arms and went to the door to tell the dogs to come in, which of course woke up Acorn. (What was I thinking? It was 5 am; I wasn't.) After getting Sara & Lucy in, and putting Acorn down in his room, I went back and called Clyde off of whatever it was he had, and saw the poor raccoon squirming and chittering away. Then I was worried I had a 'coon I needed to kill in the backyard so it wouldn't suffer, and I would get in trouble for discharging a firearm in town. Or what if it didn't die and ran off, I wouldn't know what diseases it had potentially given my dog. I also didn't want to go outside without a weapon, because I didn't want to get attacked by a rabid 'coon.
Anyway, it had been 7 days since my child had a bowel movement, so I took him to the potty and he filled it! (This is the highlight of my morning. What a glamorous life I lead.) While waiting for him to finish (10 minutes), I called Animal Control. They, of course, weren't in yet, but the message said to check their website for FAQ. I took Acorn to the kitchen, gave him the bucket of cookie cutters, and went to the computer to look up animal control info. It wasn't long before I heard a loud crash followed by screaming and crying. Acorn had pulled the cactus off the shelf in the kitchen. He wasn't obviously hurt; I think it just scared him. So away we went to his room to nurse and feel better. Then back to the kitchen to clean up the mess. Luckily the pot didn't break, and I had some extra cactus potting soil to re-pot it with. I had been meaning to get around to that any way, because it had been looking kind of sad.
After feeding myself and the dogs, I needed to walk all the dogs individually because I did not want to let them into the backyard to play with the dead 'coon. (At some point I shined a light out the bedroom window and found I have at least half of a dead raccoon in the backyard.) This took quite some time as both Clyde and Lucy needed work on polite walking. I can't tolerate impolite walking when I have Acorn with me. So we took our time with lessons. Although it was pretty much a free-for-all with Sara, because she's so small I just don't care if she pulls.
The only thing on our schedule was to go to the baby-led-solids class. I needed to do diaper laundry first. I was upstairs putting the diapers in the bathroom and heard Acorn looking for me downstairs. I peeked my head out the door, called his name, and he found me - me upstairs, him downstairs. I looked away for less than a minute, and when I peeked back out, he was already up one step. He had crawled up one step a couple nights before, but wasn't able to pull himself to standing on that step to get to the next one. Now he was standing on the first step. So I went down and sat next to him as a spotter, and he climbed all the stairs by himself! After the first two he seemed to have mastered it. He only had trouble with the last two because the gate at the top of the stairs and the absence of more stairs made those two unique. But I just waited patiently next to him, making sure he didn't fall backwards when he decided swinging from the gate was fun, and he eventually figured it out. He was so excited, and crawled away giggling to find something to play with upstairs.
Later in the day we had lots of fun getting messy in the baby-led-solids class. I had decided pretty early on in the day, that the best cure for a bad morning was to count my blessings. I can't believe how well it worked. Yes I was tired. Yes it was a lot of work. My dog smelled (still does). But I am so lucky. Here's just a few I started with.
Counting My Blessings:
1 - I have 3 dogs. (That is a blessing, right?)
2 - The dogs all have their vaccinations.
3 - We have a fenced in backyard.
4 - We have a house.
5 - I have a son.
6 - My son is pretty easy going. He didn't cry when I yelled at the dogs and woke him, nor when I left him in his room alone.
7 - I can stay home with my son.
8 - Thanks to EC, I very rarely have to clean out poopy diapers.
9 - I have a cactus.
10 - The pot didn't break.
11 - I have a stroller.
12 - We have great neighbors. (Stopped and chatted while walking Clyde.)
13 - Clyde is well-trained enough that he left a live play thing when I told him to.
14 - I can walk.
As I said, these are just a few. Once you start counting, one leads to another and another. If you think you're having a bad day, counting your blessings will really turn it around. I had a wonderful day. I also got to hang out with my friend, Heather. My husband came home early and buried the dead raccoon. We picked the first peaches of the year off the tree. So much was packed into it, it seems like it was a couple days ago. Hopefully this trick will stick with me.
Anyway, it had been 7 days since my child had a bowel movement, so I took him to the potty and he filled it! (This is the highlight of my morning. What a glamorous life I lead.) While waiting for him to finish (10 minutes), I called Animal Control. They, of course, weren't in yet, but the message said to check their website for FAQ. I took Acorn to the kitchen, gave him the bucket of cookie cutters, and went to the computer to look up animal control info. It wasn't long before I heard a loud crash followed by screaming and crying. Acorn had pulled the cactus off the shelf in the kitchen. He wasn't obviously hurt; I think it just scared him. So away we went to his room to nurse and feel better. Then back to the kitchen to clean up the mess. Luckily the pot didn't break, and I had some extra cactus potting soil to re-pot it with. I had been meaning to get around to that any way, because it had been looking kind of sad.
After feeding myself and the dogs, I needed to walk all the dogs individually because I did not want to let them into the backyard to play with the dead 'coon. (At some point I shined a light out the bedroom window and found I have at least half of a dead raccoon in the backyard.) This took quite some time as both Clyde and Lucy needed work on polite walking. I can't tolerate impolite walking when I have Acorn with me. So we took our time with lessons. Although it was pretty much a free-for-all with Sara, because she's so small I just don't care if she pulls.
The only thing on our schedule was to go to the baby-led-solids class. I needed to do diaper laundry first. I was upstairs putting the diapers in the bathroom and heard Acorn looking for me downstairs. I peeked my head out the door, called his name, and he found me - me upstairs, him downstairs. I looked away for less than a minute, and when I peeked back out, he was already up one step. He had crawled up one step a couple nights before, but wasn't able to pull himself to standing on that step to get to the next one. Now he was standing on the first step. So I went down and sat next to him as a spotter, and he climbed all the stairs by himself! After the first two he seemed to have mastered it. He only had trouble with the last two because the gate at the top of the stairs and the absence of more stairs made those two unique. But I just waited patiently next to him, making sure he didn't fall backwards when he decided swinging from the gate was fun, and he eventually figured it out. He was so excited, and crawled away giggling to find something to play with upstairs.
Later in the day we had lots of fun getting messy in the baby-led-solids class. I had decided pretty early on in the day, that the best cure for a bad morning was to count my blessings. I can't believe how well it worked. Yes I was tired. Yes it was a lot of work. My dog smelled (still does). But I am so lucky. Here's just a few I started with.
Counting My Blessings:
1 - I have 3 dogs. (That is a blessing, right?)
2 - The dogs all have their vaccinations.
3 - We have a fenced in backyard.
4 - We have a house.
5 - I have a son.
6 - My son is pretty easy going. He didn't cry when I yelled at the dogs and woke him, nor when I left him in his room alone.
7 - I can stay home with my son.
8 - Thanks to EC, I very rarely have to clean out poopy diapers.
9 - I have a cactus.
10 - The pot didn't break.
11 - I have a stroller.
12 - We have great neighbors. (Stopped and chatted while walking Clyde.)
13 - Clyde is well-trained enough that he left a live play thing when I told him to.
14 - I can walk.
As I said, these are just a few. Once you start counting, one leads to another and another. If you think you're having a bad day, counting your blessings will really turn it around. I had a wonderful day. I also got to hang out with my friend, Heather. My husband came home early and buried the dead raccoon. We picked the first peaches of the year off the tree. So much was packed into it, it seems like it was a couple days ago. Hopefully this trick will stick with me.