The pit falls of puppies

Firstly, a quick re-cap. In case you missed my earlier posts, Flip-Flop is the girls' puppy. Not mine. This is particularly handy when it comes to certain things, like me not having to clean up her mess. It would be even handier if she realised this and didn't try to sit on my lap when I was studying, or blogging (Like now. Flip-Flop sends big slobbery kisses to you all).

She had a big sulk this week when I wouldn't talk to her when I was finishing an assignment.

"Fine. If study is more important to you than me, I will destroy these curly things. So there."

I feel so strongly about her being the girls' dog, that I almost woke Pixie up to tell her to clean up her dog's mess in my bedroom the other night.

Pixie has asked me before why Flip-Flop is her puppy when I am mad at her. Tink pointed out that I say the same thing to their father about them when I am not happy. See? I don't play favourites.

I have known a few people who have got pets to practice before they had children. I never did this. Partly because I was 18 when I was pregnant with Buglet, partly because I never actually thought of it. Plus when I was 17 I acquired a 4 year old sister and an 18 month old sister. Clearly this didn't deter me from being a young mum so I doubt a pet would have.

However, I have finally worked out why it might be considered practice.

Tuesday night Flip-Flop got me up at least once every hour being upset by the storms. Also the Pixie woke me up when she came into bed with me, then woke me up again to swap sides.

Wednesday night Flip-Flop woke me up to be let outside. Then got distracted and ran down the road. Then came back inside. Then realised she hadn't actually been to the toilet. Then was super excited to see me. Then Pixie yelled at me for waking her up yelling at Flip-Flop. Then Pixie yelled at me in the morning for not letting Flip-Flop go sniffing down the street in case she'd been following the rabbit's trail (Our rabbit has escaped. A storm casualty). Apparently the fact it was 1am, I was in my pyjamas, and it was raining is not a good enough excuse.

I now get why pets are good practice for babies, or toddlers. I was standing there trying to reason with a dog in the middle of the night. I have been well and truly reminded about some of the positives to my baby and toddler days being over. Two nights of broken sleep have been rough! This is the reason for no blog posts. I have been too tired when I have made it home. I had forgotten what it was like, and have no idea how I managed for 6 years without sleep.

I suspect I am going to be a very slack grandmother.

Just in case you are in any doubt about how much I love the puppy, my favourite thing to do at the moment is to make her rush past the girls to say hello to me. This annoys them a lot. Just saying.

I also suspect I am a mean mother.

The puppy loves me though. She comes to "kiss" me goodnight. It took me a few nights to realise that is what she's doing, but she comes and nuzzles me before she goes to bed. Just like the girls. I blame the Pixie for teaching her to "kiss" people. This is much nicer after the first few times when I dragged my butt out of bed to let her outside, only to be given the "Huh? What are you doing?" look. She really is like the girls. They do that a lot too. None of this is helping with the campaign to get another dog.