They told us at the vet that we needed to avoid taking the dogs out for walks or to public places until they have all their vaccines because there's a risk of them developing Kennel Cough (or something worse!). But our little Mini Aussie Shepherd (Shadow) is acting out because he's clearly not getting enough exercise. He's chewing things up like a crazy dog and sometimes he'll race from room to room with clearly too much energy. And when we pen them up at night, Watson will go right to sleep, but Shadow turns around and around in his crate and barks and whines for a few minutes. He's cleary not expending all his energy.
So this morning I decided to take them for a walk to see if I could help with that problem. Not too much risk of Kennel Cough in our neighborhood block right? So I strapped Emery into her stroller and put the dogs on their leashes and got ready to leave. But I couldn't even coax the dogs out the door! I had to actually carry them to the curb! But surely after we get going they'll get into it right? Wrong! We walked only two or three houses down and I was practically dragging them (and I mean that quite literally in Watson's case) down the street the whole time. If I gave their leashes any slack they turned around and raced back toward the house.
I've never seen such wimpy dogs... hopefully eventually when they get older they'll get bolder too. But for now... WIMPS!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Family showers!
When Jimmy and I got married one of our favorite ways to start the day together was to shower together. It's a fun way to spend some time together, talk and laugh and splash each other with water and soap suds.
When we moved to our last house in Michigan our shower wasn't in a bathtub, it was free-standing and very tiny. It was hard to shower in there with just one person... not to mention I was 7-9 months pregnant in that place. We missed our morning shower time. Then when Emery was born we lived apart for 4 months, then it was just too hard, one of us needed to watch Emery while the other showered.
Well this summer we decided to reinstate the group shower, with an addition. Emery showers with us now. We usually wait till after she eats breakfast so we can use the shower time to rinse the oatmeal and strawberries and bananas out of her hair. We take turns holding her so the other can soap up or rinse off. It takes much longer... but it's worth it. It's a bonding time for everyone in the family. We play with Emery, make her squeal when the water hits her, spin her around, play with her bath toys, and generally interact with her. And we interact with each other. We bought one of those hose shower heads so we can take it off it's mount and spray each other with it or let Emery hold it and watch the hilarity!
It's funny how family traditions come about. We have found that when we try to start a tradition for the sake of starting a tradition (tacos every Friday night for example...) it doesn't seem to pan out the way we wanted. We forget to do it, or we have other plans, or we're going to be gone. But real traditions spring out of the togetherness of families. From something special that you share with only your family.
Now I know that someday, for the sake of being appropriate, we're going to have to change this tradition. Either we're all going to have to wear swimsuits or Emery or daddy will have to be left out of the family shower. But for now, the family shower is my favorite time of day!
When we moved to our last house in Michigan our shower wasn't in a bathtub, it was free-standing and very tiny. It was hard to shower in there with just one person... not to mention I was 7-9 months pregnant in that place. We missed our morning shower time. Then when Emery was born we lived apart for 4 months, then it was just too hard, one of us needed to watch Emery while the other showered.
Well this summer we decided to reinstate the group shower, with an addition. Emery showers with us now. We usually wait till after she eats breakfast so we can use the shower time to rinse the oatmeal and strawberries and bananas out of her hair. We take turns holding her so the other can soap up or rinse off. It takes much longer... but it's worth it. It's a bonding time for everyone in the family. We play with Emery, make her squeal when the water hits her, spin her around, play with her bath toys, and generally interact with her. And we interact with each other. We bought one of those hose shower heads so we can take it off it's mount and spray each other with it or let Emery hold it and watch the hilarity!
It's funny how family traditions come about. We have found that when we try to start a tradition for the sake of starting a tradition (tacos every Friday night for example...) it doesn't seem to pan out the way we wanted. We forget to do it, or we have other plans, or we're going to be gone. But real traditions spring out of the togetherness of families. From something special that you share with only your family.
Now I know that someday, for the sake of being appropriate, we're going to have to change this tradition. Either we're all going to have to wear swimsuits or Emery or daddy will have to be left out of the family shower. But for now, the family shower is my favorite time of day!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The mystery of teenage boys
I have always been of the "video games are evil" school of thought. Especially for teenagers or younger kids. But recently, to my surprise, I've started to see some small benefit to these games. It's the mystery of boys... I try so hard to grasp the concept of boys and they seem so foreign to me. But I'm working on it.
Jimmy spends a lot of time in his job just being with the teenagers. He goes every morning to their 1st period class. He goes to their PE class and plays with them. And he also has them frequently come over for youth parties. And even occasionally he'll have one of the boys come over here to the house just to hang out with Jimmy alone. And this is where the video games come in handy. See, if I were trying to bond with a teenager, I would sit down with them and talk. Well... that's what comes naturally to me. And if it were a teenage girl, that just might work. But it seems that teenage boys (in general) aren't wired that way.
For example, a boy, we'll call him Jonny, will come over here after school. He'll sit awkwardly on the couch, maybe he'll play with the dog or make faces at the baby. Sometimes I try to talk to him. But I always get monosyllabic answers to my questions.
But then Jimmy pulls out the X-box and some kind of weird teenage boy transformation occurs in front of my eyes. Shy, awkward, monosyllabic Jonny becomes confident, loud, and even arrogant Jonny. There is lots of friendly banter and trash talking. Lots of laughter, shoulder shoving, and cheers and boos depending on who is winning. And every once in awhile... every once in a great while all of those hours at the school playing PE with them, all of the hours in the backyard in Jimmy's homemade forge banging on hot metal with them, all the hours of video games and field trips and youth parties and camping trips pays off. And in between killing each other with swords (or whatever) I hear from my spot doing dishes in the kitchen something wonderful. Something like:
"Why is it important to wait till I'm married to have sex?"
"Does God really hate gays?"
"Why should I get baptized? Doesn't God know I'm committed to him?"
"What does it really say in the bible about jewelery?"
"Is God going to save Buddhists and Muslims?"
Etc...
And when I hear a question like this I marvel and the wisdom of my pastor-husband. He knew that all those hours would pay off. He knows about boys. And he may not have the answers to all of those questions, but he certainly is equipped to talk to them openly and honestly about whatever issues are in their hearts.
Issues, that are apparently easier to discuss after some kind of manly display of prowess.
Hmmmm... such a mystery...
Jimmy spends a lot of time in his job just being with the teenagers. He goes every morning to their 1st period class. He goes to their PE class and plays with them. And he also has them frequently come over for youth parties. And even occasionally he'll have one of the boys come over here to the house just to hang out with Jimmy alone. And this is where the video games come in handy. See, if I were trying to bond with a teenager, I would sit down with them and talk. Well... that's what comes naturally to me. And if it were a teenage girl, that just might work. But it seems that teenage boys (in general) aren't wired that way.
For example, a boy, we'll call him Jonny, will come over here after school. He'll sit awkwardly on the couch, maybe he'll play with the dog or make faces at the baby. Sometimes I try to talk to him. But I always get monosyllabic answers to my questions.
But then Jimmy pulls out the X-box and some kind of weird teenage boy transformation occurs in front of my eyes. Shy, awkward, monosyllabic Jonny becomes confident, loud, and even arrogant Jonny. There is lots of friendly banter and trash talking. Lots of laughter, shoulder shoving, and cheers and boos depending on who is winning. And every once in awhile... every once in a great while all of those hours at the school playing PE with them, all of the hours in the backyard in Jimmy's homemade forge banging on hot metal with them, all the hours of video games and field trips and youth parties and camping trips pays off. And in between killing each other with swords (or whatever) I hear from my spot doing dishes in the kitchen something wonderful. Something like:
"Why is it important to wait till I'm married to have sex?"
"Does God really hate gays?"
"Why should I get baptized? Doesn't God know I'm committed to him?"
"What does it really say in the bible about jewelery?"
"Is God going to save Buddhists and Muslims?"
Etc...
And when I hear a question like this I marvel and the wisdom of my pastor-husband. He knew that all those hours would pay off. He knows about boys. And he may not have the answers to all of those questions, but he certainly is equipped to talk to them openly and honestly about whatever issues are in their hearts.
Issues, that are apparently easier to discuss after some kind of manly display of prowess.
Hmmmm... such a mystery...
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