Dog vs. No Dog

Top 13 Reasons the Rodriguez Family Should NOT Get a Dog
(in no particular order)

1. We already have a cat. An old, finicky, semi-diabetic, hairball producing, whiny, mentally-challenged cat.
2. Vet bills.
3. Dogs - high maintenance.
   
4. Cost of pet food.
   
5. Big dog appetite. (see #4 above)
   
6. Poop in my yard.
7. Who is going to walk the dog? Really. We all know who. Oh, sure, the sweet-faced, pleading children will promise to do this. But we know how this works, don't we?
8. Dogs - not self-cleaning
9. The fence needs mending.
   
10. Who is going to feed the dog? (see #7 above)
11. Dog smell. (see #8 above)
12. Dogs kisses.
13. Dog smell. (What? This has been mentioned already? It bears repeating.)

Top 1 Reason TO get a dog

Who could resist that?

What you can't tell from the picture is how the dog is actually leaning up against her, practically pinning her to the van, having found an eager dispenser of love and determining not to let it go. You see the smile? The big, goofy, blissful smile that says, "How have I been living without this big teddy-bear-in-a-Rottweiler's-body of a dog?!"

A little background on the above photo. This past weekend we joined some friends on a short drive to Wimberley, Texas where they keep their daughter's horse. On the property were 2 big dogs (the one pictured and another sweet, if not a little skittish, dog). When I first saw the dogs, I feared I would have to carry my 7-year-old because she would certainly be frightened. Does that girl look frightened? Or in love? Uh-huh. Love.

I am determined not to give in to this romantic notion just yet. The voice of reason still prevails in our house. The old man cat still lives.

But ... just look at that smile!

Literally music to my ears

My eldest child has been taking formal piano lessons for almost 5 months now ('formal', because what I have been teaching him heretofore has been decidedly informal.)

He was playing one recent morning, and as he played, I lay down in my room and just listened. The piece was Gymnopedie No. 1, by Erik Satie. It was by no means perfect. There were a few mistakes, a little stumbling, some halting.

But, still, so very nice.

I, myself, began piano lessons around the age of 10 and continued my lessons through high school. I am no musical genius, but played reasonably well - if I was diligent with my practicing (I was). But what always stood out to me were the words of my mother, "Oh, I just love listening to you play!"

I must confess that I partly interpreted this compliment as 'mom being nice'. Not to give the wrong impression - I did not doubt her sincerity, but faintly sensed her praise must have arisen more from her motherly desire to encourage her child, no matter how mistake-ridden, monotonous, discordant, the notes coming from the instrument may be, than from simply the pure enjoyment of the music.

But now I know. I have stumbled into yet another motherhood mystery, which is only to be experienced, not explained. Because now I know she really did mean it. Because now it is I who will say to my child, "Oh, how I love to listen to you play!"

And I do.

And then there was Dad.

Whose favorite comment to me was always, "Hey, Steph - do you know 'Refrain From Music'?"

Huh?

Emma: [sniffle] [sniffle]

Me: "Goodness! Emma, are you congested?"

Emma: "No. I just have a lot of snot."

Well, at least she's not congested.

I need a backup plan

I was so ahead of the game. Monday is a school holiday (parent/teacher conference day) and I actually planned (in advance, no less!) to take Monday off. Way to go, Steph.

So imagine my surprise earlier this week when one of the kids nonchalantly mumbles something about having a 4-day weekend. "What?! What do you mean a 4-day weekend?! What do you mean there is no school on Friday?!" Upon frantic consultation with the AISD academic calendar, I find that, yes, indeed, there is no school on Friday (staff development day). Who ever heard of a 4-day weekend in February?

P A N I C

Because, even though I only work part-time, this happens to be the busiest time of the year for me at work. I have no backup childcare plan and I'm not sure it is a good time to take both Friday AND Monday off.

But wait ...

... there's more ...

... for me to panic about, that is. Because yesterday, my son came home from school with a fever. He is home today. And I have a meeting to attend at 12:00 today. And at 9:00am tomorrow. And I don't have family close by who I can drop my sick kid off with. And I still have no idea what I am going to do with the kids on Friday. But at least I have Monday off. I think.

Did I mention that I am hosting a houseful of people for dinner on Friday night?

Did I mention that I am prone to fits of panic? (known affectionately in my house as 'mom freaking out')

I need a backup plan. How do I get one of those?

Anyone up for a snooze?

Yesterday morning while getting the kids ready for school, something (I remember not what it was) prompted me to use the phrase, "If you snooze, you lose."

To which my son, in a serious tone, replied, "Yeah, and if you don't snooze, you lose a lot of rest!"

How true. I think I need to catch up on my snoozin'.

It's raining, it's pouring

In the mornings, on occasion, I have the privilege of waking my youngest child. It is one of my most favorite things to do. She is warm and toasty and snuggly, and she lets me kiss her sleepy face, and she sweetly and possessively, almost absently, wraps her little arm around my neck and pulls me close. Now tell me that does not sound like THE most wonderful thing. I am quite jealous on those mornings when I find my husband has stolen into her room before me.

During this morning's gentle nudging to wakefulness, as the sleep began fall away, her ear caught the sound of the rain still falling outside (such a strange and foreign sound! We must be in a drought). She dreamily commented about how she had heard the rain pouring throughout the night. And then began to recite,

"It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring ... "

At which point I interjected, "No he isn't - he's in the kitchen."

Without skipping a beat, she began her chant again,

"It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is in the kitchen,

making our lunches ..."

Science Girl!

My baby rocks! Today Emma won first place in the school science fair and gets to enter her project in the Regional Science Fair in a couple of weeks.

In the interest of full disclosure and clarification (and NOT to diminish her accomplishment in ANY way), it should be stated that of the entire first grade at her school, Emma was one of three (3) children who even DID a science project. But still, she does rock. She worked hard and I am so proud of her!

Jared, while not winning a ribbon this year (hey, he had to compete against the ENTIRE fourth grade), did score a perfect grade on his project. While he was quite disappointed (and a tad jealous of his little sister, I'm sure) at not winning, he recovered from his funk rather quickly once convinced that a perfect grade was indeed most impressive and being assured that we were very proud of him for the effort he put into his work.

In honor of their academic prowess, we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate. Just give me an excuse not to cook, any excuse! At the restaurant (where, by the way, the ubiquitously mounted big screen tv's were beaming a not-exactly-kid-friendly PG-13 movie - what is that about?), the following comment was made by my son in a most polite tone to the waitress upon opening and inspecting the little box of crayons supplied with the kids menu: "Um, excuse me ... are these crayons used?"