Weaning, how I leathe thee

We went to GA to visit family over the Labor Day weekend, which was wonderful. What isn't wonderful about traveling is that all the "rules" with babies change. Since they're in "unfamiliar" surroundings, you can't leave them to cry in the crib at all because it tends to freak them out. So our routine gets all out of whack whenever we travel. So when we get back home, Molly wants to nurse ALL NIGHT LONG again. The only way she isn't crying is if I am standing up holding her. Funny how it's always been that way with her. She's had a sensor that knows the minute your butt hits any surface and she begins to cry! So I think I'm going to pull something reminiscent of college days: the all-nighter. I'll walk around and keep her from crying until I just can't stand it anymore . . . hmmm . . . maybe I could do half one night and see how it goes! My mom is coming up next weekend or so and she said she'd spend a lot of time with her the next day if I pull an all-nighter so that I can get some sleep . . . but I know my daughter and I doubt she'd allow me to sleep in the next room! Ah, the joys of parenthood.

We're going to church on Sunday where I'll be playing in the orchestra (or attempting to since it's been over a year since my clarinet has even been touched!) and she'll be in then nursery for a good 3 hours. And next week I'll get a reservation and take her on post for her first shot at daycare since we get 16 hours a month for free and it's only $2.50 an hour after that. Woo hoo!! Now Mommy can do things like go to the doctor for check-ups, get her hair cut, buy groceries without lugging an extra 22 lbs around . . . it should be fun!

Weaning woes

So this was intended to cover all the aspects of my crazy world and lately, what has consumed me is the process of weaning Molly. She is now past 12 months of age and think it is necessary to nurse all night long. So a week or so ago I started on the long, arduous journey of night weaning, which has now reversed and become daytime weaning, to be followed by night weaning. The first night we tried this, I took away the feeding when she first wakes up at 9:00 pm. I was up until 11 with her while she screamed but the next night she went right to sleep (next to me, of course). Next I took away the 11 pm and it was quite easy, comparatively speaking. Next I attempted to take away the 2 am and we were up until 4 am. I made her sleep for at least 15 minutes before giving in and allowing her to eat . . . the next night I was so delirious from lack of sleep that I couldn't even remember whether I'd taken away the 2 am or 4 am! So I reversed it and that went over like a lead balloon! So this continued for several nights, culminating in last night not sleeping whatsoever in an attempt to take away the 4 am and leave the 2 am intact.

So at the suggestion of my aunt, I am going to wean her in the daytime first and get that squared away and then I will focus on taking away the night time stuff. Today she ate right before her morning nap and then again before bedtime but that was IT. I held off a HUGE tantrum by offering food (which she's been refusing most of the time during the day, except to eat a few bites here and there) and it worked! She didn't eat much dinner tonight and she fell asleep by 6:45. Her normal bedtime is 7:15 so not so bad . . . it's now almost 8 and she's still asleep but I anticipate she'll wake up very soon for the first time. For her entire time as an infant, sleep has always been the struggle. She wakes up every few hours and can't settle herself back to sleep so we're really working hard on that! I have recently been able to pat her back to sleep that first waking but I couldn't do it last night. Maybe tonight?? We'll see!

So life goes on. We have almost 30% of the deployment behind us and so much more ahead. There's a lot of drama coming our way and I'm going to try to keep it together through it all!!!!

Day two in the nuttiness that is training the dog

On day two, we began with a basic "sit" in the morning. The command was ignored because of the presence of this magical piece of bread in my hand. Belle's ears were cocked forward and she was standing on two feet in anticipation of receiving this tiny piece of bread! So I calmed her down and lightly scolded her . . . ignorance, I will call it. Finally she did respond and sit. I was even able to get her to stay for a few seconds while I walked around the room. Of course an hour later, I attempted to have her "sit" and "stay" and she proceeded to run the baby over to get to me! This promises to be a long process but I am not ready to give up yet! I do agree that dogs are more responsive and appear happier when they are well trained and I want that for her and for our family. My most difficult task, however, will be training her to keep her feet on the floor . . . *SIGH* I suppose that will be for another training regimen!

Dog training Journal, Day 1

So today I called the trainer again to try and arrange training for our 2-year-old English Pointer, Belle. A bit of background about this dog, she has attempted to eat our entire house on several occasions and has succeeded in eating at least most of it on several occasions. She is not a bad dog; instead, she is a very misguided and HYPER dog. She's very loving and affectionate and does fairly well around our daughter, who is almost a year old. We've known that she needed to be trained (obedience training) and needed private sessions, as she pukes every time she rides in the car, no matter how short the ride. I stumbled upon several articles on the Internet explaining how to train a dog and decided taht I needed to give this a shot! I started with a piece of bread, as Belle would eat a rock if she thought it were something I might eat. I have chosen to combine "sit" and "stay" into one week's work because they seem to fit together nicely. I may have to work on these two for two weeks but we will see how it goes. On day one, she sat down for the bread and stayed pretty well on most occasions. I'll give it possibly 50% on day one, which is not too shabby. Every piece of literature I have ever read suggests to give a dog a "job" and make the dog feel as though it is crucial to learn these commands and the dog will be responsive. I tried to have her "sit" on command to get her dinner and she was so excited and energetic over dinnertime that I failed miserably at that! But all-in-all I think that day one was successful for "sit" and "stay." More work to come!