Day 2: Still Likes to Play Chase, Still Drools

Great news!  Harlan gets to complete day three of doggy daycare tryouts!  We still have not received any complaints or criticisms (which leads me to strongly doubt the attentiveness of the staff...).  Deep down, despite my making fun, I am proud of our pup for being on his best behavior at daycare.  

Here is the Day 2 Report Card.  Today Bob (his 'counselor' from day 1) walked Harlan out so that he could tell me what a good boy he was.

On the napping front, Asher has a new nap accomplice.  Lola Bunny.

Day 1: He drools and likes to chase Moose

Upon moving to Albuquerque, one of my tasks was to find Harlan a new doggy daycare.  This was a task I was not enthusiastic about because I'd grown so fond of our Iowa City crew at Lucky Pawz.  However, I did finally suck it up and found a place for the pup called Canine Country Club.  All that was required were Har's vet records, and I could bring him the next day if I wanted.  When Ben got home I told him the good news.  About thirty minutes later (during which time he was conducting his own search on his phone), he said, "I don't like the looks of the country club.  He should go to Enchantment Pet Resort and Spa."  Mhmm. So I looked at the website.  

This place has a 'Manners Institute', a playground, and THREE heated pools.  Har is great, but does he need to go to the Ivy League of doggy daycares?  I mean let's face it, we love our dog, but he is really just a big dumb oaf.  Har wouldn't know the difference between a day at the land of enchantment and playing in a parking lot.   But I could tell Ben had made up his mind (...I could also suddenly foresee a conversation over public vs. private school in our future...).  

So I called to see if I could bring him in the next day.  Negative.  I was told that before Harlan could attend daycare, he would need to complete a 3-consecutive day evaluation (during which time he could flunk 'good doggedness' and not get invited back).  

So today was his first day.  I dropped him off at 7:30 and then spent the next 8 hours imagining all the possible dumbassery our dog was doing to fail daycare.  Sound harsh?  I'm going to take this opportunity to remind you that this is the dog who eats rocks for fun and is engaged in an epic ongoing  hate fest with Asher's rubber ducky.  Yeah, that's what I thought. But to my surprise, when I picked him up I was told he did great, and was given his 'report card' (see below).   

So it looks like we go back tomorrow for round 2.  

No changes to his behavior-- I have a feeling they save those for day 2.  Also, if someone tells me we need to work on Harlan's self-confidence I will pee my pants from laughing so hard.

Har before daycare....

...and Har after.

"Rawr...I'm a nap monster."

Biscuits & Muskrats

We have had a tumultuous week as far as sleeping goes-- but last night we got back on track.  And yes, I realize I just jinxed myself by having the audacity to put that in writing.  Today was a much more pleasant day for every one after peapod got 15 hours of sleep. 

Mastering the pouty lip... even in his sleep.

Sleep peapod.  (And yes, if you are thinking "He looks enormous!" it's because he is ENORMOUS)

Trying to get Sophie in his mouth.... so close.

Bazinga!

The Fantastic Sleep Duo

Chewing on my arm like it's corn on the cob

CHEEKS

So.  Best quote of peapods young life happened a week or so ago.  Ben and I were marveling at how much Asher looks like Ben.  He has his lips, he has his chin, he has his hair.  Then Ben said, "The only thing that doesn't make sense are his blue eyes.  Where did he get those blue eyes?".  Oh love. 

The source of Asher's blue eyes.

A new favorite

3 Months Old!!

Before we get to Asher's 3 month old pictures-- I have an announcement.  Our little nap monster napped in his crib today!!  Now, accompanying this announcement I have a confession.  I realized, when I put him down in his crib to see if he would nap, that I had never done it before.  Yes, yes, yes. I have been writing about him refusing to nap anywhere other than on me when I had never attempted to have him nap in his crib until today.  I am awesome.  :)

3 Months Old!

Asher loves kicking his legs around, they are always up in the air.

Harlan sneaking in for some love.

Walking Maniac

3 Month Mohawk

Cheese!!

Sleepy Bear Strikes Again

We tried.  And we failed.  On Wednesday we did things my way.  When Asher started to fall asleep during the day I immediately moved him to his crib or bouncer so that he could learn how to sleep somewhere other than on top of me.  What did this result in?  No napping.  Sure there were five minutes here and there, his daily twenty minute snooze during our morning walk and the inevitable dozing while in his car seat during errands-- but other than that, NO napping.  So Ben and I, naive parents that we are, thought "Well it's not so bad, he will sleep really good tonight!".  Wrong.  Wrong wrong wrong.  It turns out when babies are exhausted they don't sleep better, they sleep much worse.  Like orders of magnitude worse.  So Asher finally went down around 11 p.m. and then was up every 2 hours.  Fail.  Total fail.  So yesterday morning Asher and I had a pep talk.  It went something like this, "Fine, we'll do it your way."  After conceding the nap battle to my baby, we had a much more pleasant day and a lovely evening.  He took two very long naps laying on me and then went to bed around 8:30 and only woke up twice to eat.  He even made it through his typical morning fussy period without a peep.  So, on the eve of Asher's 3 month birthday I have accepted the truth that this little 15 pound nap monster is going to get his way.  We will try this whole 'sleep training' business again in a few weeks.

So I was thinking, 'Maybe it isn't SO bad.  Maybe he naps all the time and because I'm focusing on him napping on me that's all I'm thinking of."  Wrong again.  (Nothing like being a parent to make you realize how wrong you perpetually are...).  Here are just a few of the pictures I have from my phone of Asher and I- and they start when he is about 3 weeks old.

Sure, super happy about how cute this is way back then.  

Little did you know you were creating a nap monster.

Starting to realize that this may not have been the best habit to form... although truth be told I still wouldn't really have it any other way at this point in the game.  It's more that I fear for the future.  I don't want a 5 year old that won't take a nap unless he is laying on his mom... not good for Asher, not good for mom.  

I have stuff to do!  And I don't want him to get made fun of, he already faces great adversity with his denty ear.

Yep, now we've got the dog in on it.  Fantastic.

My biggest confession-- as I write this blog post, this is exactly what's happening...I'm a sucker.