Welcome to Motherhood... Kind of.

Since we welcomed our puppy, Caliber, into our home, I find myself doing a lot of things I never thought I'd do. For instance, I talk for my dog. A lot. He tends to be very polite this way. I refer to myself in third person (as "mom", "mommy", or "mama"). For example, "Mama loves you! Yes she does! She loves you soooooo much!" I talk to him a lot. It's rather ridiculous. I narrate my life to him, and I doubt he even cares. "Mama is going to the kitchen to do the dishes!" "OK, crazy lady... Thanks for the update. I'm gonna continue to chew on my toy."

He hasn't had his final puppy booster shot yet, so I'm a bit paranoid of him meeting other dogs we don't know. Which happened on last night's walk. A very nice grey poodle named Zoey came out to greet us around the block. We let them hang out for a few moments introducing themselves, and the whole time I was panicking that Zoey had 87 different types of transferable bacterium she was passing to Caliber. They were certainly all fatal. Cesar would not approve of this meeting unless we knew Zoey's medical history was outstanding. We walked around the corner, and I expressed my paranoia to Michael. I suddenly stopped and said, "Oh my God. I'm that person--Oh my God, I'm your sister!" You see, one of his sisters was a freak with her first child. I make fun of her (even to her face) about how crazy she seemed to me. Sanitizing everything, not allowing her apple juice because it would make her hyper, etc.

It's been quite an adventure these past three weeks with Caliber. He makes me so happy, scared, upset and paranoid. All totally worth it. As long as he doesn't chew my valuables that is! ;) He's still doing well with his training. He usually listens, unless he's tired or playful. I'm finding it very hard to teach him to "stay". Sometimes it's hard for me to remember he's just a puppy and still has time to learn. He figured out how to bark a week and a half ago, and he occasionally gets sassy--especially if he really wants to bite your toes that you've hidden under your legs!