Paige...

I am so behind on blogging. This picture of Paige and Scout is funny because Scout looks smaller than she is now, and this picture is from June 10. 

Here is a picture of Paige's last school presentation, which was a list.  She got to pick any kind of list to make which she would then present to a group in the class. She chose to make a list of puppy toys. 

Here she is at the table while doing the school work...

Paige seems to have grown recently.  She got on her bike the other day and she looked huge on it.  She's still smaller than her friends and classmates, but definitely bigger than a couple of months ago.  In a year end school scrapbook, there is a picture of her taken on the first day of school.  She looks so much older now. 

Daddy's girls...

Modelling Umbrellas...

Dance recital

WHAT a fun day!! Paige's dance year came to an end and there was a major recital at Hamilton Place.  Hamilton place is a huge theatre with 2 balconies.  Big time.  I had to bring Paige to the theatre for 11:00am for the dress rehearsal in full costume, hair and (minimal) makeup.  I'm so happy that I got to watch the rehearsal as I was able to videotape it with my phone.  For the actual evening performance, cameras were not allowed.  In the video below Paige is on the far right.  Doesn't she look so cute??

I definitely got to live vicariously through Paige.  I always wanted to dance as a kid.  Not at Paige's age, but a bit later when I had seen a few friends dance at their recitals.  Well, I did do musical theatre for 6 years or so, but never had a pair of ballet shoes.  sniff.

In addition to seeing Paige's routine, I got to watch a few other classes rehearse their numbers, including a huge opening number of 67 dancers. I've never wanted to be 15 years old again so badly.  All the energy, flexibility, and fitness. I felt very old.

Anyway, after the rehearsal we went home for a few hours.  Paige and I relaxed while watching a movie, just to be low key.  At 5:00 Amanda came over to babysit Rose and Scout, followed by James a bit later (decided to leave Rose at home and enjoy Paige's dance fully). We powered back some pizza and went through the same motions again of costume, hair, makeup, and back to Hamilton place. Right away we dropped off Paige, met up with Mary Jo, who came to watch the performace, bought Paige a flower, rand then got our seats.  Paige's routine was number 4. Even with the 1000 people or so sitting in the auditorium, Paige did the same great job that she did in her rehearsal.  So so so proud of her.  She had been scared of the recital for a few weeks, but she didn't look nervous at all. On the stage with her class was the class assistant to help them remember the moves.  Next year, if she decides to dance again, which she says she wants to, she'll be on the stage with only her class, and the teacher off in the wings doing the movements. 

We made it to the first intermission and decided to call it quits as it was already 8:00 ish and Paige said she was ok to go home.  We stopped for a quick ice cream at Baskin Robbins before heading home.

The dance schedule for next year comes out soon, so I'm going to look over it with her and see what she wants to do.  Some kids do more than 1 class, which she could do if she wanted to I guess.  We'll see what the schedule looks like.  She may go into Sparks as well. 





Scout update and Scout casualties...

Scout has been home for 4 weeks now.  So far she has ruined 2 balls (which we let her play with--her teeth punctured them almost instantly), and most recently, this book.  The book happened this morning when she jumped up and got it off the couch while I was brushing Paige's hair.  We didn't even notice.  Pretty good though I'd say.  But really, we don't leave toys lying around and she's not allowed in any of the bedrooms. Oh--a couple of dropped crayons have met their demise as well.

 I have to say, it's pretty hard work to keep one eye on her at all times, but will be worth it in the end.  Very very exhausted by the end of the day due to constantly being alert, as well as from her 5:00am wake up.  Her night time kennel disasters have stopped and now she sleeps right through from 9:00ish to 5:00am. We do wake her up once before we go to bed to take her out.  I actually enjoy waking up at 5:00 as it gives me lots of time to make Paige's lunch, read a bit, take Scout for her walk, and then have a shower when Scout has a nap at 7:00ish.

Paige is no longer scared of Scout and loves to play with her.  Scout in turn is very gentle around Paige and Rose...has even endured being poked in the eye, had Rose attempt to ride her, pulled by the tail, and pulled on the ears.   She likes to play bite me however, which is very frustrating.  Working on that.



Making progress.  Sleeping on shoes.  A few weeks ago these crocs and boots would have been toast.



We took Scout to the vet a few days ago for her booster shots.  She could possibly have a mild ear infection, which we have to reevaluate later, and does have an intestinal parasite (ew!), which is apparently common in puppies--have medication for this.  She weighed 18.6lbs. Going to the vet with Paige and Rose was both fun, and extremely not fun at the same time.  They thought it was a great place to act up and generally be ridiculous since no one was paying attention to them.  Poor girls, everyone wants to talk to the dog now...because who can resist a 3 month old lab puppy? Apparently no one.  When we go to the park about 20 people come over to pet her, which really takes my time away from the girls for the moment.   We are trying to train her to sit when people come over to avoid jumping when she is 70lbs. If I'm not there to supervise it gets crazy.  We tied her to a tree yesterday at the park last night while i pushed the girls in the swings.  I thought the barage of people was over so I left Scout to chew on ground material while i pushed the girls in the swings.  A few minutes later i look over and there is a girl on the ground on her back laughing while Scout is jumping on her and biting her hair.  The girl thought it was great and fun, but not really the message I want to send to Scout about what is acceptable! Now if you're thinking this sounds insane, it really is, but mike is away in chicago for 4 nights and I really have no choice but to go on 2 walks a day with all 3 girls.  Trying to train Scout to walk at my side nicely with a slack leash while Paige and Rose either run ahead, or dawdle along behind is really quite difficult. A little crazy! I can only imagine what it looks like...4 blondes spastic in the streets.

Outside!

We have been spending so much time outside! The above photo was taken right after breakfast as you can see with Rose in her jammies.  Paige had already changed as she was worried about Scout biting her nightgown. The weather has been unbelievable the past 2 weeks.  This week the temperatures are about 30 most days...or "feels like" 30, as it always is over here with the humidity.

 There are a few things to do out back...the small slide, climb on the rocks, eat lunch, hide in the bushes, play at the mud making sink thing, bubbles, play with Scout, and the sandbox. If the girls play in the sandbox though I have to pull Scout out of it a million times.  We have a bucket of sand for Scout to dig in, but of course it's not filled with prohibited toys.

I'm not sure Scout is fully grasping the "peeing outside" thing.  I think a lot of it just happens as we are already out.  I bet if it was rainy for the past 2 weeks, we would have made better progress--letting her out to pee and then right back in...but then we would have gone stir crazy.  We basically have to spend most time outside or downstairs as Scout has no chance to make it to the back door when she's upstairs, and that is pretty demotivating for her.  She is up there in the evening though as she mainly sleeps on the floor after the girls have gone to bed.

Rose is so confident now that she lets herself out into the backyard and just starts playing all by herself.  She loves making "drinks" and "food" out of the sand for Mommy and Paige.  Ever since Paige's kindergarten concert at school, Rose has pretended to be on a stage on top of the big flat Rock in the yard, and yells out songs.  Then she takes a bow and says "thank you".  Too bad she wouldn't sit still for Paige's upcoming dance recital.  She would love to see all the costumes.  She is so so so much more into all that stuff than Paige.

May long weekend...

First weekend of the year at the cottage!  We were anticipating major bugs, and although Paige and Rose got lots of bites around their hairline and under their hair, the bugs were not that bad at all!! I think that they just have theirfine and  messy kid hair most of the time and the bugs get in their and bite again and again. Poor Paige was not happy and had a fever and swelling again from it. 

The drive up was great.  Scout whined and barked for the first little while and then settled down.  We made it to Weber's without a stop and there we stayed for a while to let the girls run around.  Scout was excited to see all of the other dogs.

This was the first time that Paige and Rose could successfully share a room, which they did just fine.  Paige wakes up lots in the night there for whatever reason, but Rose just slept through it all and had great sleeps, even all of her naps.  So instead of sharing a room with Rose, we shared one with Scout.  With her night time "troubles" we didn't want her to be where we couldn't hear her.  Also didn't want her to be waking other people up.  Kinda scary taking her outside at 2:00am though in the woods.  When she is better at sleeping and bigger she will sleep elsewhere.

So here are some photos:



Paige was great at fishing

A puppy paradise

Bug hunting stuff.  She hates bugs.



The required spin and dunks



Scout can swim! I tried to get a photo in the action, but she made it to the shore before I could get a shot. Mike held her in the water and she naturally started moving her legs and he slowly let go.  Afterwards she rolled in the dirt continuously. Good thing she can stay outside there. 



Scout spent a ton of time outdoors.  During the day it was cooler outside then in the cottage so she liked to curl up in the shade.  Paige and Rose spent a lot of time outside too, but in the water.  I don't know how they did it as it was like ice water.  I couldn't keep my feet in the water for more than a second without jumping back and forth from foot to foot to try to warm up.

So, a very very successful trip.  Everyone had a great time.

Desperate to get in the water...

do it self

Rose has reached the independent stage.  Everything she does is "do it self!".  Walking down the stairs, getting a snack, putting on clothes, etc.  She is the most adamant about climbing into her own car seat and then doing it up herself, which for safety reasons, we obviously don't let her do.  Big problems ensue.  If only she'd gain some toileting indepence! At this age Paige was fully potty trained day and night.  Poor Rose.  We're focusing on "potty training" Scout now instead.  Rose will have to wait.  She doesn't have nearly as much interest in it as Paige did anyway, so maybe she's not ready.  Actually, since we;ve been home a lot with new puppy I have let her wear underwear a few times.  She has either held it or had an accident.  But a good start.  We have created a potty chart in the bathroom too and have some stickers on hand.  She is/was excited about the chart and will sit on the potty, but will just hold it in. She's the most excited about the prospect of using toilet paper.

Speaking of doing it self, we have been picking up the dog poo after every incedent so no one inadvertantly steps in it.  I said to Paige, "I better go pick that up", to which she replied, "Awwww, why don't I ever get to pick it up?".  Seriously??

Scout!

Scout has been home with us for almost a week now.  She was 8 weeks when we got her, so is 9 weeks old now.  She's probably about 15-16 lbs now, and it's obvious she will get very large.  Her parents are quite large but not super tall, more stocky.  We had a choice of 2 puppies when we went to pick her up at the breeders (which was more than a 4 hour journey away--with stops).  I couldn't even begin to decide which one to pick, and as John the breeder said, they are twins.  Mike was more observant and kept an eye on them individually and noticed the one that was more reserved and held back a bit more.  She seemed less playful and jumpy, with more of a calm demeanor. So we chose her! In the car on the way home she whimpered for the first 10 minutes or so and was a bit squirmy, but after proceeded to fall asleep on my lap for the rest of the ride. 

When we got home we were bombarded by the neighbourhood children and then took her to the backyard to get aquainted. 

First few minutes in the backyard:

Paige laughing hysterically at puppy antics:

It was a bit surreal at first having an animal in the house with all of the associated paraphernalia and smells...toys, food, accidents, general dog smell, but since we must have become accustomed to it.  Also, it felt crazy at first as we needed to watch her every second--basically involving moving her around the house where we could watch her, even if she was sleeping.  A couple days in we realized that she sleep A LOT!!! And if she is sleeping she is generally out for a few hours.  I was worried I wouldn't get one on one time with the girls without chasing after a puppy constantly, but we still get a lot of time while she's sleeping.  Also, if she is asleep in the backyard it is ok to just leave her while we go inside as long as we occasionally ensure she isn't eating the deck or something.  Or, she can often be transfered into her kennel to remain safe with the door shut while we go around the house.

Sleeping upstairs:

So sweet:

 A quiet moment.

But boy, when it's crazy around here it's crazy.  Labrador retrievers are big chewers.  She tries to chew on everything which is why she must be constantly watched.  There have been a couple of hectic moments where everything bad seems to happen at once...Rose temper tantrum, puupy accident, chair getting gnawed on, and Paige is going to be late for school.  Basically I feel like I'm running around like crazy.  Luckily these moments only make up 5% of the day. 

A couple of things we need to work on are going for walks, house training, and leaving her in the kennel for short spurts.  She won't walk for more than a few feet without lying down for a rest.  The farthest we went was around the crescent one time, but she has since regressed.  We have carried her to the park a few times so we can go as a family. 

House training is not going super well.  She still has accidents inside.  Far more of it is done outdoors, but I attribute that to our freakishly good weather this week and the fact that we are outside constantly.  The nighttimes are equally not going well, but luckily she settles right down to sleep with no whining.  She does, however, wake up a few times a night, often with a pooey disgusting kennel, and poo paws. I really don't mind taking her out to pee in the night, but the poo is just gross.  Tonight we're going to put in different bedding and make her crate a tad bit smaller than it already is (we have her full size kennel which comes with a divider). I also cleaned out the crate and bars with vinegar and water to rid it of any lingering poo smells--hopefully she won't think about it if she doesn't smell it.

We are still working on being able to leave her in her kennel which we go out.  She basically just whimpers, howls and barks if she is in there during the day.  We of course have had to go to the store, walk Paige to school, etc. and have heard her barking when we came home every time with the exception of once.  Since she sleeps in her kennel at night no problem (i mean minus the poo of course), it isn't that she doesn't like the kennel, probably just lonely.  We have no reason to leave her for long, but will eventually need to have mornings out, etc. for probably 2 hours. It's hard to go out knowing she is upset and not resting.  I'm not sure if it's something we will have to train her on, or something she will just get used to...like ok, I know they go out and lock the door, drive away, and then come home.  No point in whining while they are gone.

Besides the few areas that we need to work on, she is such a calm dog.  She knows how to sit on command and always sits by her bowl when she wants her food.  She is fairly good with the girls, although if they get all worked up around her she will be a bit too playful around them and will sometimes try to nip their hands or clothes.  We are teaching them to be calm.  Oddly enough, Rose is more comfortable around Scout then Paige is.  I think Paige is used to her cousin-dog Abby who is an adult and is a lot calmer.  The first few days we had Scout at home I felt a bit bad for Paige.  She was really nervous and you could see it in her face.  She was too fearful to play with Scout and would jump on the couch where the puppy couldn't reach her.  Since then she has warmed up and throws her toys around and knows how to be a lot calmer.  I demonstrated for Paige how she was walk/running on her tiptoes with her head always turned toward Scout.  She saw how Scout thinks of it as an invitation to play and started to chase after me. Then I showed her the difference if you just walk normally ignoring her, how she basically ignores you or follows nice and calmly.  I think that helped Paige to see what she needed to do differently.

Anyway, this is a super long post, so more about Scout later.  She seems to have grown in the past week, and she has gained more of a yellow colour on her back.