I Am So Wise, I Should Write A Book!

I still have moments where I turn around and expect to see a tiny little baby, but instead there is this little man with opinions and preferences of food and toys and company! He's learning new words quickly now. So far just this week he's started using more, want some, uh-oh!, and the dreaded no was heard once. I find myself getting a little bit teary eyed after he falls asleep in my arms and I see how big he really is. I think I have a theory on why it is so difficult for mothers to let go of their children once they're grown.
You carry this life inside of you until he is ready to face the world. Then you introduce him to your family and friends and teach him everything you know and grow a little with him along the way. There is an innate unconditional love that prevents you from strangling them when they throw temper tantrums for hours, or throw your tooth brush in the toilet, or "spill" a gallon of paint over the entire living room(furniture and electronics included), or get married without telling you.(love you mom, love you daddy:)
You protect him at all costs, even when people think your insane and critical. At the same time, you try not to protect him to much. What's a few bumps on the head or dirt on his cookie?
My point is that we (mothers) spend so much time leaping from one milestone to the next and spend so much energy on trying not to loose our tempers and make bad decisions that no matter how hard we try to savor every little moment, the moments pass. I didn't cry when Xander was born, but I cry sometimes now when I think about it. It only makes sense that by the time he's 18 it will have really hit me. Having a child is such a spectacular thing that if the enormity of it hit you all at once we (mothers) would probably have heart attacks at the first sight of the wrinkly,slimy little creature screaming with it's first breath in protest of being pushed out of his cozy little womb.
The vastness of what we have done washes over us in little waves and I am guessing that by the time he is grown it will really hit me that...well...he's grown. It has to be a time when a mother gets to reflect on all that has happened. It's overwhelming I'm sure and that must be why mothers have such a hard time letting go of their children.
Plus, then I'll have to be worried that he can function as an adult. That will be the real test of my mother hood. Yeah, yeah, yeah..he's leaving the nest, he doesn't need me any more, blah, blah, blah. Come on now! The real reason mothers freak out is that once your child goes off into the real world there are going to be tons of witnesses to your child rearing abilities and you have no more control over how it's presented!
That's it right? I know...I'm so wise with my, how long has it been now?, two years of mothering experience. I should write a book.
By the way, I'm 28 years old and let me say that I am still my Mommys little baby and my Daddys little girl. They don't need to pay for things, drive me places or teach me life lessons but they still do and I would be a bit lost without that.

So Abused and Mistreated.

Poor baby. I am so mean. Who do I think I am giving him a bath!? I can't believe they even let me bring him home from the hospital! He's going to grow up and be that clean, good-smellin kid in class. He is so abused and mistreated.

Leave It To Me.

Well, Leave it to me to waste away two months of free time.

• I have not even begun to work on the bathroom or hallway, but I have scraped the paint off of two windows and a pillar at the house in Ypsi. I'm planning on going today and cleaning up the yard there. Trust me, it needs it badly.
  
• I got my second photography job. It's not until September, but hey..it's work.
  
• Lollapalooza looks to be in my near future. I was trying to talk Tony into going to Wisconsin in September to see Matt Costa again. I didn't actually think he would go, but it was worth a try. Well, long story short...we're going to Lollapalooza next weekend!! I'm so excited. We'll get to see Matt Costa and his band plus Feist and obviously tons of other acts. It is bitter sweet though. We're leaving sunday which is when Red Hot Chili Peppers are playing and Queens of the Stone Age.

I kept Chloe on tuesday. When I say tuesday I mean pretty much all of tuesday. And while she is the sweetest little girl since my cousin Taylor and we had tons of fun I have found a grand new respect for women who have more than one child. (once again i have put an excessive amount of photos on photobucket. you may also want to check out Flickr, but since you have to pay to have more that two photos per month uploaded I don't post new ones there very often.)

It is almost 10 a.m and once again I've done nothing but fill out this entry and drop Mr. Brody off at daycare. Let me see if I can actually accomplish something today.

Random Fun Things.

I have such an odd sense of humor that most things I find to be hilarious just illicit blank stares from others. At any rate, here are some statements that my sister sent me that I thought were funny.

• If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
• If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?
• Is there another word for synonym? (actually there are two; one synonym for equivalence is synonym and also one synonym for definition is synonym.)
• Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?"
• When you open a bag of cotton balls, is the top one meant to be removed?
• Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?"
• What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?
• If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
• Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
• Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?
• If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
• Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
• Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?
• If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?
• Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?
• How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
• Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?
• Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
• Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
• What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Enjoying It While I Can.

I'm officially an old woman. Going out Saturday nite exhausted me. After our outting with Jo and Justin was cancelled yesterday I came home and crashed. So did Tony, but he crashes everyday after work.
At any rate....I had fun Saturday. There were a few people from my dance class there, so I had someone to dance with that stepped on my toes as much as I stepped on theirs! Papi O's is new, they took over where the Edge use to be....it was nice, but seemed like they were trying to hard. The most amusing part to me were the "dancers" that were on the "stage". I wasn't the only one who noticed that they looked very unhappy. Four skinny little girls wearing Papi O's tank tops standing in a line looking like they were in a line-up. Plus there was this huge screen TV above the bar playing J.Lo (who is bothersome anyhow.) videos, etc....it was very distracting. I found myself watching TV instead of dancing.
On the bright side, everyone there knew how to dance and it was great to watch and participate. Even Justin, who claims he can't dance, was doing pretty well!!
Fun Times.
When I got home it seemed like Xander had grown tremendously. I didn't turn on the lights, but just felt my way around the bed until I could decipher Tony from the baby. I didn't find a little baby, I found a little boy. I didn't realize until that moment how big he's getting. Sigh. Now I know what everyone means when they say "enjoy them while you can".

My first salsa lesson was last nite.We chose Moonlight Dance Studio. Rachel was my partner. She's not really my type, a little short for my taste, but it worked out fine. We were laughing and tripping over ourselves pretty much the whole time.
The instructor is hilarious and makes the hour go by fast. Plus I got to buy some new shoes, so that's always fun! Can't wait to go back next week.
I will test out my new skills tonite. I was invited out with Miha's group to a new salsa club. Hope all goes well.

Me Master, You Dog.

Last fall I came to the conclusion that our dogs were a bit out of control. I came to this conclusion after being dragged from the back yard to the front on my rear end because my precious pumpkins caught sight of another dog happily minding it's own business.

I checked into trainers, since going to class with other dogs would be severely out of the question. A personal obedience trainer for my dogs would have run about $600 a month. I came across one fellow who was very helpful and highly established, his fee was about $1600 and this cost covered both dogs until I was satisfied with their behavior. Perfect, but I couldn't shell out that kind of money all at once. At least not for dog training. OK, so Tony wouldn't let me. Consequently, I checked out every book I could find on obedience training, dog behavior etc....Here is what I learned;

• Tony and I had not established dominance. Since dogs are pack animals this is very important. I thought that we had done our best, but turns out letting Sampson and Delilah demand attention is one form of them being dominate over us. (who knew?!! i thought they just wanted some love.) Feeding them before we eat is also another no-no. Letting them go through doorways ahead of us, etc..was also a problem.
• American Pit Bull Terriers are innately strong willed. Someone with a chihuahua might think barking incessantly at people outside is cute, or baring teeth at any other dog is funny, but chihuahuas are about 58 lbs lighter than Sampson or Delilah.
• Not taking the aggression issues seriously could result in worse behavior that eventually may not be controllable.

It has been a long frustrating struggle. For one, I've had to retrain Tony,myself and anyone who comes in contact with our dogs as well as the dogs themselves. Here is what we tried, and slowly seems to be working. I say slowly because we honestly do not spend as much time "training" as we should. If we could devote 2 hours per day, which was recommended, it may work faster.

• Feeding after we have finished out meals. This includes no tid-bits from the table, which always bothered me...and Tony does it without thinking still to this day.
• Going throught doorways first.
• Instructing the dogs to sit or shake or to perform some command before receiving any attention. (this was the hardest)
• Preventing any urination from Sampson outside of our yard. This was difficult to because Sammy was use to "marking" everything from out yard to the park and back. He is sneaky about it too. He doesn't always raise his leg.
• Letting them bark at people who come to the door, but then saying "enough" and enforcing compliance.( ok, this one we are still working on)

The last one I have had no luck with until yesterday. I finally figured it out! To teach a dog not to strain and pull when on a leash I read that whenever they begin to pull, you say NO and promptly go in the other direction. Well...I have , for several months now, been trying to do this on the sidewalk. It is very dizzying and frustrating and would work after about 15 minutes and I would have to repeat every time we would go outside. Yesterday we were in the field across the street and I was being dragged from on bush to the next. My arms felt like they were going to be pulled out of socked and I was sweating like a monkey and I had enough. I thought to myself "I'm in charge, not you. We don't go where you want, we go where I want. Me master, you dog".

Not really realizing it at first, I applied the "go in opposite direction" strategy. It worked like butter! In a matter of minutes. I didn't get dizzy because I wasn't restricted to going back and forth. I had the entire field to work with. This morning they got a little excited right out of the gate, but one opposite direction turn and they did great.

So, that's it. We accomplished one small step. It feels good. Especially in the shoulder socket area.

I'm Back..

Just got back from KY. last nite. Fun times. It was great to see everyone, not enough time to visit at any length, as usual. In a nut shell, this was the fun and festivities that ensued.....
* I met my Dad's half brother, Jeff. Along with his wife Chris and her mother, whom happens to be my Dad's dental hygienist.
* I went to church??
* I played with the new kitten, Festis.
* I learned the fine art of Yard-Saleing, thanks to my aunt Mitzi!
* I had my first paid photography job, thanks to my aunt Mitzi!
* I saw pictures of my great-great grandparents, thanks to Grandmother.
* I learned fireworks are not for children, thanks to Daddy!
* I trampolined myself to death, thanks to Rachel and Taylor.
*I saw cows.

And Xander also had some experiences.
* My usually uber friendly child became bashful when bombarded with all of my adoring family.
* He came within a few feet of the new baby cows (yes, i know they're called calfs), which he thought was pretty cool.
*He played with the new kitten, Festis.
* He was frightened by the pyrotechnics.
* He was frightened by the trampoline.
* He now has more cars than any 2 year old would know what to do with.


Check out photobucket, I took over 400 pictures!