Reminder to Self

Every once in awhile I try to reread some articles and resources that I've posted and/or looked at previously. I read this article this morning.

5 Steps

I try so hard to be loving and gentle in my approach to parenting. But we're all human, myself included. Sometimes I need reminders of how I want to approach mothering and techniques that will help me on my way.

Sometimes I need to be more consistent. For example, despite my love of the above technique, Boo is not always "helped" when he should be. This is especially true when I'm busy with other children during the day, feeding a baby, trying to get lunch on the table, and all of the other things I do in a given day. Or, and this makes me cringe just to write it, when it's the end of the day and I'm too plain pooped out to get up and deal with his discipline. Yes - I have my moments where I'm guilty of barking orders from the couch!

So I resolve to do better today. That's all anyone can do as a parent - admit inadequacies and work on them.

Puppy Training Update

Well, we've had another training session. I must say that already Wally is a new puppy! The nipping problem? Pretty much gone. He still gets too wound up at times and nips, but that's the exception, not the rule. Yay Wally!

Currently we're working on sit, down, name recognition, "come", learning to walk correctly (i.e. no tugging on the leash, wandering off, etc...), "leave it"(teaching him to leave something that he wants alone). The BIG project right now? Grooming. He can't stand the nail trimming process. In fact he throws a little doggy tantrum when we try. The trainer cut his nails for me Monday and he went ballistic. So I get to hold him and pretend to trim his nails every night while he eats a treat.

I am really enjoying my time with Wally. Boo loves him. Boo loves to play fetch with Wally. Wally doesn't really bring the ball back, but he'll stand by while Boo picks the ball up and throws it again for him! It's so nice to see them interact together. Wally rarely nips/jumps at Boo anymore. He still occasionally has to be crated for it, but rarely. And it's usually because he gets too excited and jumpy.

I'm really glad that we decided to work with a trainer. She's really teaching us a lot and it'll be great to have a well-trained dog that can eventually interact more not just with our family but with the daycare kiddos also.

If anyone needs dog training, it's Tip Top Dog Training.

Checking in Midweek

Well, so far so good this week. Even though I ate a lot over the weekend, it came out of my extra weekly points that weight watchers allows. So I'm doing okay. I've been able to stay in my points every day and it's showing on the scale. Also, activity wise I think I'm doing okay. With having 5 children in the house 4-5 days a week I pretty much don't sit down all day. I'm constantly on the move. We still do our morning walk. Granted, this is not at all at a brisk pace. I have two walkers now and that really slows me down. But oh well. I try to go for another walk in the evenings with Boo and Wally. That walk's a bit faster since Boo rides in the stroller!

I'd love to get in some yoga during naptime, but right now I'm lucky if I sit down for 20 minutes during naptime (even though the kids sleep for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours). But there's so many things that need to get done in that time, plus there's a little baby that usually wants fed somewhere in there!

Anyways, it feels good to see some progress on the scale after buckling down and putting forth the effort!