Frustration

Get dressed already!

Sure the things I love about parenthood far outweigh the things I do not.  But at this moment, I'm so sick of one of my least favorite things: trying to get Avery dressed. Invariably, she runs away like it's a big game. Clearly, to her, it is.  However, when I'm trying to get her dressed so we can do an activity I don't even particularly want to do (e.g. go to the beach, walk the dogs, etc) and she's making it more difficult, that's when I really get mad. It drives me crazy. 

Just now, when I gave up trying to get her dressed and came over to complain about trying to get her dressed, she did come over and say, "OK, I get dressed now," and brought me her clothes.  However, once we got her underwear and pants on, she decided it was time for another 20 laps around the casa, which she's still working on now.

I guess what it boils down to is that, when I'm about to do something I don't want to do, and then Avery delays me and makes it difficult, I get so frustrated!  I don't have this problem (the frustration, that is; she is almost always difficult to get dressed) when I'm trying to get her dressed for something I really want to do.

Boredom

Apparently, two-weeks is when boredom hits for all three of us.  Avery asked for "home" last night and keeps asking for Josie (which is ironic since, of all her friends, we see Josie the least!)  In the car yesterday, she kept insisting we go home.  We'd say, no, we're going to the casa and she'd say, "No! Home!"  Poor girl. I feel like an abusive parent making her be on vacation.

Now, I would like to at least leave the casa, but since I can't get the little one dressed without becoming enraged, I am blogging instead. 

Halloween

Avery, for the past few weeks, likes to put things on her head and declare it, "Halloween! I wear costume!" 

Changes

It feels like Avery has entered the into EVERYTHING phase.  The moment I turn around, she's pulled out the contents of an entire drawer, or pulled everything off the counter.  It's not like she didn't get into things before, but she's stepped it up to a whole new level where she's lightening fast and wants what she wants.  Point in case: she was pulling the leaves off a plant in our courtyard just now until I finally noticed.  That wouldn't have happened a couple of weeks ago.

Also a new obsession with her is peanut butter.  She requests it often and then just sits there and eats it straight out of a cup with a spoon.  I debate whether this is a good food to let her eat, but then I figure I would give her a PB&J sandwich without much thought.  This is just leaving the jam and bread out of the equation. 

Close Call

We almost ended up with a third dog.  Not really, but I was so tempted!  This little dog was following us around in town yesterday.  It was the cutest small dog I've ever seen.  And, in general, I do not like small dogs.  I always say I like them on an individual basis.  Anyway, there's no way that anyone wouldn't fall in love with this dog.  Even D was enamored.  I was ready to snatch him up, take him to the local vet for shots, etc, then pack him on the plane and take him home.  However, I was 90% sure that he wasn't a stray.  Few people keep their dogs on leashes or behind fences down here.  And he looked very well fed and wasn't skittish.  He was like a little yellow lab, but the size of a dachshund.

Speaking of strays, there are far fewer strays in town than when we first started coming down.  A bunch of the Loreto Bay homeowners took up an animal charity as their cause and helped them do drives (yearly?) to get the strays rounded up and spayed/neutered.  You can really tell the difference.  In fact, I can't say for sure that I've seen any strays since the dogs I have seen are well fed.

Let the record show ...

... that it only took 40 minutes to get Avery dressed for the beach (that is, without forcing her. Clearly I could have forced her, but I didn't have the energy or drive to do so).