Toddler Chores

I believe in letting Eliza help around the house, to her capabilities. Which lately means that she puts her dirty clothes in her clothes hamper and she helps feed Scooter. But she's 20 months, which means this doesn't happen every day and is very dependent on her mood. But she actually does a great job of feeding Scooter. We have his food measured out into tupperware and she dumps it into his food bowl.

The other day Eliza was playing in the other room and I hear her yell "Cooter!" (She sadly no longer calls him "Ga" which was super cute, but "Cooter" is pretty cute too.) Usually Scooter ignores her but this time he took off running to her. And a minute later I hear him eating out of his food bowl. I had already fed him and figured he must have left a bite or two, but I decide to investigate anyway. And there's Eliza holding a measuring cup of food and pouring it into Scooter's bowl. The 20lb bag of food was open (but still standing) and she had figured out how to pull off the clip closing the bag and feed Scooter whenever she felt like it. Of course Scooter is THRILLED with this new prospect of extra meals. Momma and Daddy feel like we're constantly one step behind her in terms of toddler proofing our house.  What can she possibly get into next?

Eliza and Ga

Eliza and Scooter getting acquainted.

Almost from the time we found out I was pregnant we worried about how Scooter (our 5 year old miniature schnauzer) would feel about the baby. Would he be protective? Would he be territorial? He didn't have a history of liking kids, but we hoped that he would feel differently about a baby in his own family.  For the first six months Scooter didn't really seem to like Eliza. He ignored her as much as possible, and as she grew to be aware of her surroundings she was more and more fascinated with Scooter. Scooter had a bad habit of waiting until Eliza was napping and then barking uncontrollably. He is usually quiet and lays in his spot on the couch, but if something gets him going, it's hard to get him to stop and it is loud and annoying.  Many a nap was interrupted by Scooter. We had heard that the baby will be used to sounds like dogs barking because she'll hear them while she's still in utero, but that didn't seem to help when Scooter got going.

Everything changed about the time we started to give Eliza solid foods.  Suddenly, she was interesting to the dog because she had food.  And she dropped food. And he could eat the dropped food. And that changed everything.  Instead of resenting Eliza or ignoring Eliza, Scooter became Eliza's best friend even when she didn't have food.  He was much more tolerant of her. She can play with him and he will play back in his own unique way. (He growls when he's playing, it makes other people nervous to watch, but we know it's his play mode.) He lets her grab his toys out of his mouth. He lets her hug him. The only time he gets frustrated with her is when he's in his kennel. And of course Eliza wants to be wherever Scooter is, so I'm trying to teach her that the kennel is Scooter's place and she needs to leave him alone when he's in there.

When we were in San Francisco recently Scooter went to stay with Shawn's brother who lives nearby. About halfway through the trip Eliza did the sign for dog (patting her leg) and then looked at us and said "Ga?" Ga is her word for Scooter. (She doesn't say Mama yet, but she has a word for the dog.) She wanted to know where Scooter was, and it melted our hearts.  When we came home from San Francisco Eliza chased Scooter all over the house yelling "Ga!" over and over again.  Our little family was reunited.

19 days and counting. . .

Playing next to a sick Momma on the floor is still fun.

I have been sick.  For weeks.  For over half of the month of February I have been fighting a stupid cold.  I had the "I need to stay in bed" type of cold for about 10 days and have had the "I feel OK getting out of bed, but my head still hurts, I'm still coughing, and my nose won't stop running" type of cold for about a week now. I'm really sick of being sick. But I have a few observations to share with you.

One of the worst "side effects" of being sick is that I've lost my voice, and consequentially can't sing.  Which ordinarily wouldn't affect me, but it means I can't sing to my baby, which makes our bedtime and nap time routine a little off.  I miss singing lullabies to Eliza.

My husband likes making the bed.  A lot.  There were several days I stayed in bed and Shawn stayed home to take care of Eliza and I.  I would get up to use the bathroom or get something to eat and return to find that Shawn had made the bed.  Which is awesome, I love a made bed too, except when I'm getting right back into it because I'm sick.

Scooter loves tissues.  He loves to eat tissues.  Only used tissues.  And when I'm in bed for a week sometimes the tissues don't make it to the garbage can (which we keep in the closet on top of Scooter's kennel so he can't get into it) immediately after use.  And Scooter would lie in wait for me to get out of bed for a minute so he could steal the tissues off of my nightstand and eat them.  Gross!  Even now when I'm trying to be so diligent about putting the tissues right in the trash can he manages to find them, take them to our bedroom and eat them on my side of the bed. I'm constantly finding little bits of partially eaten tissues.

Well, March will be here by the end of this week, so here's to a healthier March!  (And a hopefully less snowy one as well!)

Recently. . .

Things have been busy here in the Walker household and we've had no time to blog.  Except at night when I'm falling asleep and composing amazing blog posts in my head as I drift off.  Too bad those will never get published.  But I have a feeling they would be rather long, sometimes it takes a lot to get me to fall asleep.

What we've been up to recently:

• Experimenting with ways to get Eliza to A) nap and B) nap not in my arms after nursing.  For about 10 days she loved napping in her swing in the bathroom while I showered.  Then she would cry while I was in the shower, but fall asleep as soon as I got out.  Now she will do neither.  Sigh.  
• Right now she is sleeping in her swing with the vacuum running next to her.  At least my living room got vacuumed.  For the first time I find myself wishing our house was carpeted instead of mostly wood floors on the main level.  It doesn't take long enough to vacuum my 6'x4' rug.
• Bonus, vacuuming also drives Scooter nuts! It's kind of fun to watch him "attack" the vacuum.
• Thank goodness for white noise apps.  I was just able to stop the real vacuum and turn on the vacuum sound on my iphone.  I hope this lasts, mama needs a bit of a break!
• Lots of baking has happened around here.  I tried some awesome browned butter cookies I found on Pinterest.  I had wonderful plans to post about them, but that didn't happen.  The browned butter icing was the best part.  Seriously so good.
• We also made Cinnamon Rolls for General Conference Sunday.  Yum! And I used it as an excuse to make browned butter icing again.  Even better the second time.
• I baked Smitten Kitchen's Peach Pie with Creme Fraiche again this year.  
• We grew Kale in our yard, so we tried Kale chips and some Kale soup.  Neither was wonderful, so we'll be looking for new recipes.
• We went to the Home Show because we got free tickets and I was DESPERATE to get out of the house.  And then decided we're not Home Show people.  But it was nice to get dressed up (meaning makeup and earrings and an extra check of the clothes to make sure they didn't have spittup on them) and hold my husband's hand while walking around the Expo Center.

And for making it all the way through the post, here's a picture of the cutest member of our family.

We Still Love You Scooter

One of the questions we get the most about our baby girl is, how is the dog with the baby?  The answer is, Great!  Mostly.  After Eliza was born Scooter was staying with Shawn's brother and sister-in-law, so we had them take home the little hat she wore right after she was born to let Scooter get used to the scent of the baby.  When we got home Scooter wasn't there and Shawn and I both remarked about how our family didn't feel complete without Scooter in the house too.  Shawn's brother brought Scooter over a few minutes later.  I stayed back in the bedroom with Eliza so Scooter could say hi to Shawn and get his energy out a little before we introduced him to the new baby.  But Scooter ran right past Shawn to find me and was naturally curious about what I was holding.  We let Scooter sniff Eliza to his heart's content, and then he was good, over the change.  And really, that's what he does most of the time.  He wants to sniff her, but mostly he ignores her.  Until tummy time and then when we get down on the floor with Eliza Scooter tries to get right between us.  He was so careful around her when she first came home, but he's getting a little less careful, and I'm getting a little more protective.  But overall, he really loves the baby.  When she's crying he always runs into the room to see what's wrong. And if I'm not with the baby when she's crying he comes to get me.  The biggest change with Scooter is when visitors come over, he LOVES them.  He's always loved visitors, but now he really tries to get them to pay attention to him.  It's like he's saying "Finally!  Someone to play with me!"  Poor guy, we are trying to make sure he's still getting a lot of attention, but it's true that he's not getting as much as he used to.  I think the older Eliza gets the more Scooter will love her.

Scooter the Booter

Shawn and I will often joke that if I had been allergic to his dog we would not be married today.  I am allergic to dogs, well, most dogs, but Scooter is a magic dog.  And as a magic dog I have no allergic reactions to him.  As a girl who is allergic to way too many things this is the best news ever.  I love dogs and have the hardest time NOT petting a dog even though I know it will end with me sneezing with red watery eyes wishing I could go to bed.  But, not Scooter.  Like I said, he's a magic dog, the one dog in the world I'm not allergic to.

And having Scooter in my life has been one of the best parts about being married.  I expected the transition to owning a dog to be hard.  I expected Scooter to show resentment for my presence and thus his reduction in attention from Shawn.  I expected Scooter to willfully disobey me, and so far none of that has been true. Except maybe the willfully disobeying me part.  Scooter greets me each night when I get home by racing to the door, jumping up on me (as soon as I've put my coat away) and then barking as if he's telling me all about his day.  When I work from home one day a week Scooter cannot get enough of my attention, and though I find it mildly annoying I also secretly love it when he climbs on my lap while I'm trying to work on my laptop.  Scooter and I have a routine in the morning of playing catch or hide and seek while I get ready for work.  

Scooter is also the most sneaky dog I've ever met.  He'll quietly saunter off when he knows you aren't paying attention and get in the garbage can or sneak chocolate off the couch or gum out of my purse.  And I'll yell "Scooter!" and then he'll come up to me with his head hanging low and look at me with his big beautiful brown eyes and I find it impossible to get mad at him.  My heart melts and I know I should discipline him, but I can't help but to smile and pet him.  I find myself apologizing to the dog for getting mad at him.  

While I was worried about Scooter and making the transition with him, it's actually been the easiest transition of our marriage.  

What about you?  What did you expect to be hard?  Was anything easier than you anticipated?