Welcome Home Rosie

Ok, call us crazy but Tom and I decided to adopt another dog. Yes! we are a bit insane but our new addition, Rosie, has now made us a family of 6 including our dog Sammy and cat Charleez which we lovingly refer to as Meow Meow. Rosie is a lab/staff mix and she has a very sweet and fairly calm demeanor unlike the previous dog we looked at that bounced on Sammy's head like a cartoon character at the doggy meet and greet. Needless to say, Sammy was none-to-happy about that one, so we had to go with MY first choice. I can just hear the family members now saying "you did WHAT!?!" Of course we are still wrapping our heads around raising our daughter, Sophie, who is now at the sweet age of 15 months with the terrible 2's approaching FAST!!!. I think they should refer to it as the terrible 1-5's...6 being the golden age of less terribleness...I'm totally fooling myself, right?

We just recently got through Sammy's transition into independence. He, too, was adopted as a pup and although he also had a mild demeanor (not a barker or a biter) we did have somewhat of a difficult time potty training Sammy. We eventually had to crate train him, which is how we should have started but it all turned out for the best because Sammy has full reign of the house now. As I was signing the adoption papers for Rosie, I could not help but ask my self, silently, "ok, why do I want to go through this again and with a new baby on top of it?...oh yeah, that's right...because I'm insane." We couldn't help ourselves with Rosie, though, she was brought into the shelter's veterinarian after being hit by a bus and her owners never returned to claim her. Well, their loss our gain.

And the research begins again, this time on how to introduce your new pup to your old pup and your baby and your home and your garden and......well you get the point. We found some good training advice from this article called Guide to Introducing Your New Dog Into Your Current Dog Family; a sure reader for anyone whose nervous about the introduction of new pets into the family and needs a little preparatory advice.

Well, all we can do is take this one day at a time but I'm so happy we got our Rosie; I just hope she will be happy in her new home.

The Baby Eating Blues

So, Sophia is now 15 months and it's a joy to watch her grow. She's doing new stuff every day and Tom and I find ourselves looking at each other and saying "where did she learn that?" She is starting to pick up on words and the babble conversations that she has with us and with herself, leave you with a sore jaws from smiling so much. However, their have been some other parts of her growth that haven't been so pleasurable such as the tantrums and difficulty getting her to eat. Tom and I find ourselves pulling our hair out trying to figure out what to do to get Sophie to eat and believe me Tom cannot afford to lose anymore hair. I think Sophie's pickiness and downright stubbornness when it comes to eating is probably more disturbing for Tom than it is for me. I understand that children are going to go through phases throughout their development, so after having a little talk with Sophie's doctor and him reassuring us that this is a natural occurrence, I started feeling less worried. Tom, on the other hand, is really starting to stress over this whole eating thing or should I say not eating thing. All I can do is to continue to stress for him that this is just a phase and that we just need to be more creative in getting her to eat but he worries so much.

For Sophia, I think it's a combination of her just being picky about what she wants to eat but also the fact that she's teething. For anyone who has ever had mouth pain, you know how difficult it was to eat when you know that every chew will be accompanied by excruciating pain. So, at this point Tom and I know that we cannot force Sophia to eat and we are actively searching for creative ideas on how to get her to eat during this development period. I've found some interesting ideas on the Internet, some of which came from this website, http://www.thesneakychef.com/. There are some really good ideas here about how to sneak-in nutrition into the yummy foods that your children like to eat.

So far, Sophie's doctor and every article, blog and book I've read regarding this issue have been pretty consistent. Each one says this is just a phase that almost every child Sophie's age or around her age experience. So, I guess this is just one ride that the hubby and I are going to have sit and ride out. I don't know who will give me more grey hairs...the hubby or the baby...we'll see.

Here are some other links to interesting articles dealing with our picky little eaters and ways to help reduce the parents suffering.

• Picky, Picky, When Your Toddler Won't Eat
• Why Won't My Toddler Eat
• My Toddler Won't Eat Anything! Coping with Picky Eaters and Fussy Kids