Mama-Come-Lately

Here’s the list of Things to Remember for next year, mostly about food for some reason. Enjoy, friends.

1. The Boo was up at 5:30 on Christmas morning, and had torn through his stocking stuffers by 5:45. After he made his way through the stack of Santa presents, he reluctantly agreed, with much whining, to hold off on the presents under the tree until after everyone was up and ready. It’s the same every year, the mad dash of opening that he loves and that, in all honesty, I both cringe at and kind of love seeing. But it made me think: why confine it to one day? Seriously consider opening the floodgates early next year.
2. The Trader Joe’s “rise and bake” cinnamon buns never turn out as amazingly as we think they will, and we spend all kinds of time and energy on them. Buy some damn pastries next year.
3. Make-ahead desserts (whipped cream layered with thin cookies) were tasty, easy and fun, but still a bit crunchy after only three hours in the fridge. Mini cakes need about six hours in the fridge.
4. We all got grumpy Christmas morning because we needed protein. Make some sort of baked egg thing the day before.
5. Our minimal, simple dinners still left us kind of worn out, and the kitchen in a constant state of chaos. Research a great place for Christmas Day, maybe dim sum?
6. The Fraser Fir didn’t drop ANY needles and it still smells great. Do that again.
7. Getting out for a daily walk was one of the keys to a great few days. Do that again.
8. Two weeks with a tree up felt about right. Do that again.
9. The Boo got a huge kick out of shopping for family members. Involve him in the process more.
10. We took about three photos all day, which means that we were engaged in spending time together, but also means that we don’t have a lot of images of the day. Take a few more photos. Just a few.

Well friends, I did it. A blog post a day for 30 days, more or less in a row. On the way, I figured out a few things:

1. Mornings rule when it comes to writing.
2. Feedback from readers is nice, but it’s easy to like it too much.
3. I have more spare time than I thought I did.
4. There is no end to ideas.
5. Writing a book is a marathon made up of sprints, and I just sprinted 30 times.
6. Technology is my writing BFF.
7. Writing is a rabbit hole that’s good for me to go down.

From here, I’m going to do a minimum of one post a week, probably late in the week.

Thanks for coming along for the ride. Ta-ta for now.

So. Many. Words.

The other day, my husband was telling The Boo to do something, and he was repeating himself, because The Boo is six, and was distracted like Doug in Up when he sees a squirrel. I get the impulse, and I do the same thing sometimes. I walked up to him (my husband) and quietly said, “Do you remember that thing about how when you say something to a dog over and over, they stop hearing it? Works the same way with kids.”

Sure, it was slightly obnoxious, but it was also true: many behavior modification techniques that work with animals also work with kids. Here are a few I use on a regular basis:

1. Ignore the behavior you don’t want. Saying,”Oh my God WHY are you singing that song for the 80th time?” achieves exactly nothing. Except that maybe it amuses your kid and makes them sing that song for the 81st time. And I can’t count the number of times I’ve walked away from a tantrum. Lovingly, of course. “Come find me when you’re calm and ready to talk.”
2. Praise the behavior you do want. “I love how you were so kind to that boy who was hurt!” “You have gotten so good at sharing!”
3. Short, clear commands work; yammering away about what you want the kid to do doesn’t. “Socks. Shoes. Now, please.” Sounds mean, gets the job done. I use this technique when I’ve asked nicely once or twice; sometimes I just remind myself that “It’s time for socks and shoes” is better than “I’ve asked you over and over and you STILL haven’t…”
4. Treats and rewards work. Find out what makes your kid tick and use that to pick a motivator. Stickers, screen time, whatever. We recently started a morning routine system where The Boo gets points for doing a series of tasks with minimal or no prompting. The points equal minutes of video game time after school. His idea, but I was on the verge of suggesting something similar. Every time I use this technique, The Boo forgets about the reward, but the new behavior sticks.
5. Hand signals, body language, touch feedback, and eye contact. A huge percentage of communication is nonverbal. Use all of that to “read” your kid and to convey happy feedback as well as unhappiness with behavior. Ain’t nothing better than a warm hug from mom or dad, right?

Obviously, there are huge differences between kids and dogs, and different kids respond to the different techniques. These are just a few that have worked well for us.

Jim (L) and Georgie (R).

Fact: Once upon a time, a dog ate my kitchen.

Well, the wood parts of it, anyway.

Her name was Georgie. She was half rottweiler, half sneaky neighbor dog, and she was big, sweet and apparently anxious. I had gotten her as a puppy, on New Year’s Day. I was living with a guy at the time, and he went with me on the hourlong drive to get her. He had a dog, an enormous Irish Wolfhound mix named Gracie that I had trained because he never bothered and she liked to jump on people. So I was confident that I could handle a puppy.

A friend of a friend had a dog who’d had an unplanned litter, and the pups were gorgeous and sweet. There was one left, the runt, 10 weeks old, with a nick in her lower eyelid thanks to her mom. (Her brother Walker has lost an eye the same way.) She was great in the car and she puked in the back seat right as we pulled up to PetSmart for supplies. Because she had been living in the country, there was cow manure in the puke.

I began training her immediately; she was smart and eager to please. She liked to play a game where I hid something and had her sit and stay until I said “okay” to release her to find it. She loved tennis balls so much I could use throwing one as a training reward. She could balance a treat on her nose until I released her to flip it up and eat it. She was awesome.

Then she started eating my kitchen. I think it may have been around the time the other dog moved out with her loser of an owner. (Maybe he’s no longer a loser, but he fit the definition back then.) I found out later that her mother (the rottweiler) used to chew on rocks, which didn’t surprise me.

I talked to people with dogs and did some reading and learned that spraying Bitter Apple on things will prevent chewing. I went and got it, sprayed it everywhere, and she went on chewing. In desperation, I mixed dish soap with cayenne and painted it on all the areas she’d been gnawing. That worked. I also stuffed Kongs with wet kibble and peanut butter and froze them, then gave her one as I left for the day. She liked those so much I had to get her the black indestructible ones.

In the end, I got her a friend — Jim — and that was what really ended her lonely chewing festival. Together, they helped define an era of my life before marriage and kids. I took them on road trips, came home to them, bathed them in the tub (So. Much. Hair.) and used their names for my first email address. Georgie ended up having two knee surgeries; the man I married built her a ramp to help her get around and a friend told me, “he’s a keeper.” She died at a kennel, of shock brought on by gastric torsion, as I was coming back from an overseas trip. Jim had to be euthanized when my son was six months old and ready to crawl, and as an overwhelmed new mother I appreciated the timing. I didn’t always enjoy taking care of them, but I took my stewardship seriously.

Looking back, I think I never gave up on Georgie to make up for Cody.