Six or eight months ago, I decided to read the Little House series to the girls. It went on for one fruitless week. They were not impressed. They wanted pictures and rhymes. So after 100 pages, I gave up. But my sister had started reading it to her kids not too long ago and inspired me to start again. We are having much more success this time. Lucy gets ready for bed as fast as she can so that I can read to her sooner. The book currently has a place on honor on her dresser so that it doesn’t get crinkled or messy.
On his way to work yesterday, Matt stopped a woman he has seen walking with her kids several times. My man got her phone number and called me to let me know that he has found a walking partner for me. He gave me her number and told me to call her right that minute. So I did. I went walking with her last night. She is very nice and I am glad that Matt is my “friend pimp.” During our conversation last night, she tells me that she wants to run a marathon and has started running with the other girl that she usually walks with at night (she was absent yesterday). She invites me to run M W Th instead of walking. Needless to say, I was a little overly excited. I hope I didn’t scare her off. I can be pretty intimidating (or is it annoying?) when I get excited about something. I wish when I met someone new I could just be normal. But no, I either clam up and don’t say anything for fear of sounding stupid, or I just yak yak yak on and on and never let the other person get a word and I KNOW I sound stupid but I can’t seem to get myself to stop. Verbal diarrhea. Last night it was the latter. But it’s too late, I know where she lives and she’ll have to move before she can get rid of me. I am starved for friends, especially friends who has children the same ages as mine and lives close by.
Sophie is a funny dog. Knows that she is not supposed to go to the bathroom in the house. She expects me to read her mind and when I can’t do that, she’ll pee on the floor. Now I am glad that she is not a barker, but seriously, looking at me isn’t enough to tell me that she needs to go out.I have been slowly trying to teach her how to ask to go to the bathroom. So I started just standing at the door and not opening it until she made a sound. At first she didn’t get it. She would just look at me, then the door. So I started barking and making whiny noises. It didn’t take her long to catch on. Now, she’ll do a dance and then bark. But it is amazing just how close I have to put the dots together before she will connect them. Now that she knows that she needs to make noise if she wants to go out, I have to teach her that I don’t have to be standing at the door and looking at her before she should do it. So I started not looking at her while I stood at the door, I had to remind her to make noise. She got it. Now I am in the process of teaching her that I don’t need to be completely still while she asks. It was a sight to behold yesterday as I was standing by the door doing the Elaine while looking at the ceiling and barking. That is certainly not something you see every day. Next is teaching her that she can ask OTHER people to go out too.
And now that the cold weather has set in, and we have started using the heater, Sophie has resumed laying in her spot right in front of the kitchen sink… right in front of the heater. I have to shoo her away every time I clean the kitchen. I’m surprised she doesn’t burn her nose when she sticks it right up next to the grate.
