Generous Girl and Rusty Update

Generous Girl

Give me a minute and I’ll get around to the punch-line. Rusty was neutered today, and instead of sending us home with an Elizabethan collar, the vet’s office said, “if he starts to lick himself, even once, then you’ll need to get an “E collar.” Of course, within minutes of getting him home, he had begun to try to lick himself, so off to Petsmart Eva and I went. Well, Petsmart is very near Michael’s, and I needed to get something for Eva’s class, and Eva had $3 burning a hole in her pocket (I don’t know what it is about money and that pocket of hers). Well, when I saw that some American Girl stickers (for scrapbooking, but Eva uses them to create “stories”) were on sale, I offered to get her a few. We also got a little something for Eva’s cousin, who will soon turn 10, and a like object for Eva (won’t mention it in case said cousin reads this – love you Sydney!). Well, right there in the American Girl section, Eva grabbed onto me and said, “Thank you, Mama. You are a very generous girl”! Looks like our conversation about generosity yesterday sunk in (some girls at a neighborhood parade weren’t generous with Eva yesterday when I thought they could have been, and we had a long conversation about how I hoped that would have gone if the situation were reversed)!

Rusty Update

Since I mentioned little Rusty’s surgery, I thought you might want a general update. We had our first session with Kat, the trainer, on Saturday. Rusty wasn’t so sure about Kat until he learned that she was an un-ending source of tiny bites of cheese! He’s finally begun to be food-motivated – just at the right time. I can’t say he totally warmed up or trusted her, but he did allow her to work with him, and he made great progress. I have been concerned about how I can get him to like our babysitter, so that I can have a sitter with comfort/ease, and Kat recommended a spoonful of peanut butter held under the table and offered in small increments over the course of some time. She said he’ll be wondering when “that girl with the peanut butter will be back.” A friend and her two girls came by on Saturday morning, and Rusty did pretty well. We’re finding that if he meets people outside first, he is OK with them coming in the house with us. If they just come in, then he isn’t so happy to see them – he feels like they are a threat to Eva and me and “his job” is to protect us. We’ll get there; we’re just moving at a glacial pace, as far as I am concerned. He has a super sunny disposition when he is home with us or we are out and about, and he’s doing very well on the house training – just the occasional accident that is as often my fault as his (i.e., not getting him out right after he’s been asleep at my feet for a while (like he is right now)).

Here's Rusty

Friday, April 30^th, little Rusty, a 10 month old miniature poodle joined our family. Two days (14 inches) of rain immediately followed, which could have been a recipe for disaster for a pup with a new home, but Rusty did super. Rusty LOVES Eva and me and is generally very good. However, he has stranger issues, and we’re going to start therapy, I mean training, Saturday. We took him with us to the park yesterday, and he did very well, but that was with me constantly telling everyone not to approach him and to let him get to know them. He was emotionally spent by the time we headed home. Today, our cleaning people came while he was home alone (in his crate) and it wasn’t a pretty picture when we got home. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, Rusty got his first bath tonight! I am hoping he’ll make progress quickly. We need to be able to have people come to our home. So, please say a little prayer for Rusty that his fear goes away and for me that I can learn what is needed to help the little guy through this.

A few recent conversations

Well, La-Di-Da

Yesterday (Mother’s Day), as we were walking home from the park with Rusty (our new dog; watch for a Rusty post soon), we were talking about our plan for dinner. I asked Eva if she’d like to go to Bobbi’s Dairy Dip, and Eva said, no she’d like to go to McDonald’s. I said we weren’t going to McDonald’s and she said again that she wanted to go there. I said, “it is my day, and I do not want to go to McDonald’s. We can either eat at home or go to Bobbi’s.” To which, Eva said, “well, la-di-da.” I guess I had had a little attitude in my tone, and she caught me. I had a very good chuckle over that! And we ate at Bobbi’s Dairy Dip and both enjoyed it very much.

Rock Star

Eva and I were in the car one night, and had the following conversation:

Eva: Mom, who is Taylor Swift?

Mom: She’s a singer.

Eva: Is she a rock star?

Mom: Well, a pop/rock star, yes.

Eva: Is Lady Gaga a singer?

Mom: Yes.

Eva: Is she a rock star?

Mom: Yes, but I think Taylor Swift is probably more appropriate for you.

Mom: Eva, our friend Joseph works for Taylor Swift. He is her wardrober, which means he shops for her clothes and picks out things for her to wear.

Eva (after a pause): Mom, you’re my wardrober. You buy and pick out my clothes.

Mom (through much laughter): I guess I am.

Eva (after a pause): Does that make me a rock star?