Status Report:

The broiler pan is still in the kitchen sink, unwashed.

Mango chewed a whole bunch of Jacob's stuff over the weekend. This included a mitten of his (which he reacted to in such a cute, animated way but I couldn't capture it quickly enough on the video camera), an opposites book, a sock of Zach's, and Jacob's brand new Dora bath toy 2 days after our friend gave it to him as a belated birthday gift. I'd actually been talking about this exact subject the day prior with another friend who also adopted a dog from the same rescue trip. She said their dog is mostly chewing her daughter's Dora toys. I went on to talk about the Dora things that we have, all the while thinking to myself thank God she hasn't chewed any Dora stuff. Did she read my mind or are these dogs communicating over long distances?

After the cage incident last week, which resulted in the loss of the green hat, I decided we definitely weren't going to be able to maintain any sort of consistency with the crating idea. That's what the moving of furniture was about late that night last week. The dining room table is in Stella's garage now, along with 2 outdoor chairs and the glider from the backyard, the big-ass rocking chair from the living room, and something else I can't remember.

Since we have room in the corner now (previous home of rocking chair), we can put our Christmas tree there. I've been talking to Zach about it and he pissed me off with what he said about it. "Ok, you let me know when you find one of those (the live trees with the root ball wrapped in burlap)," he patronized. Like it was something weird to do. Tons of people use these trees and they have them everywhere. So Zach was talking to his mom about it the other day and she said something to that effect - that it's s pretty common thing and they have them available all over. So now he's on board. He's like that about everything. He doesn't believe me until he hears the same thing I said on the subject from an 'authority'. I was going to clip the forsythia bush at the end of the summer but he got to it first and went around chopping all the tops off to make it nice and round. I flipped out because I know the proper way to clip a bush and this was not it. Zach wouldn't admit to his mistake until his mom came over a few days later and made fun of him about the way he clipped the bush.

Often times he'll be sick or injured in some way and I'll suggest a method of treatment. He doesn't follow-through on that until he hears the same thing from the trainer at the college. I do know what I'm talking about sometimes, but even in my marriage I often find myself falling back into the position I've always been in with my family of origin. I am the baby of the family, by a lot. And no one ever takes me seriously. No one thinks I am capable of doing anything noteworthy. And I always let myself slip back into that mode of believing them. I have very little confidence. One day I feel great about myself, like I am an actual functioning adult and I let myself think that I have something to offer the world. Then something happens to bring me back down to reality. Maybe this is part of why I always need so much reassurance, so much feedback. I don't have to tools to accurately judge where I stand in the world. I would love to be able to step outside myself and see me the way others do.

None of this has anything to do with 'status report'. Where was I? Oh yeah, crating. Nope, not for us at this point. We used to but for some reason stopped. And the furniture: the dining room is more open now so most of the dog stuff is in there. I'm using the interlocking gate to close them off in the dining room (minus a table so I guess I should just call it the dog room) when we leave the house.

The back porch is completely knocked down now. Woohoo! Even though it has to get much worse before it will start to get better, I am loving the way it is now because at least it is actual real progress. There's no turning back now, after 3 years of simply talking about an addition. So we can't use the back door. The dogs have to be let out the front now and brought around back to the fenced in area. This is more involved so obviously they are getting let out less. Also, whenever they do go out the front door leashes have to be put on and they think they're going for a walk. I can't stand to get their hopes up like this so I've just not been letting them out as much. Poor doggies. I have been giving them more attention lately though. And it seems to be paying off.

Another thing that has been paying off is that just in the last few days Zach and I decided to make a conscious effort at training Mango, and I guess Ginger too while we're at it. We were going to do obedience school, but really, we know what we're doing. I even have the psychology background so I can do this. Mango is already sitting on command (yeah, I know, big deal). I've been leaving the gate to the kitchen open when Jacob is sitting at the little table eating. Mango comes in, but I tell her to sit and she does. I figure that if I never give her a chance to learn not to go for his food, then she would attempt it every time she sneaks into the kitchen. And now when Mango chews something, I take it and hold it up to her nose and tell her "No!" Then I give her something appropriate to chew. I think she's starting to get it.

Jacob has been better with the dogs too. I think he's picking up on my positive feelings. Speaking of Jacob, he is too cute. For a few weeks now he's been singing the ABC's. Like 2 dozen times a day. It used to be fun because I could sing along with him, but now he won't let me. No one is allowed to sing along. It's still cute as hell; he sings it with different feeling and at various levels of volume depending on his mood. He even sings it to himself at night when going to sleep.

a b c d e f dee atesh i day pay ewl m n o
p u owr s t oou v double-oou ess y and see
now I know oou abc's, next time don't sing with me!