Lately: dog behavior, awards, big kids, blog anniversary!

Without really meaning to, turns out I posted 3 times this week, and all 3 posts were “theme” posts! x2 about social media stuff and x1 about work stuff.

I am feeling overdue for a ramble-about-regular-life post!

Backing up to last weekend…. a party with Charlie:

On Saturday we went to a birthday party for Ivan’s cousin. 46 years old, nothing “special”, but for whatever reason, his wife tends to always throw a birthday party for him most years! (Mexicans can throw a party for almost any reason.) Not something I personally need/want for myself, but it’s cute, and fun. 🙂

We ended up bringing Charlie along. They have 2 dogs and love dogs and told us to bring him.

It went fine, but OOF, Charlie is just so reactive! (I have recently started using that word because I am realizing that it’s true for him. I used to think that was a negative word for dogs, referring only to dogs that react meanly or aggressively to other people or dogs, but I did a little reading and learned that no, it is dogs who overreact in any way to stimuli. Overexcitement counts, too.)

Charlie definitely gets excessively excited around new people and especially other dogs. The problem is, he jumps and climbs all over them! Like, he literally pounces on them, is all up in their face AND he has recently taken to biting at their ears! Not aggressively, but in a sort of overexcited, I-can’t-control-my-enthusiasm way. Obviously, the other dogs are then like, “Dude, ouch, why are you biting my ear?! And BACK OFF and get out of my face!” Argh. It’s not great, and it worries me that he’s basically cruisin’ for a bruisin’, you know? Some dogs may not take kindly to it…

The good part is he does settle down after a few minutes. It’s just the initial meet and greet that is always insane. Not really sure how to fix this! I obviously try to hold him back and get him to chill, but it’s very difficult. We had those trainer sessions, but we didn’t really get to working on this specific issue too much (hard to do alone in my home, too, without other new dogs…) before our 5 sessions were up.

He ended up doing great after he settled in, though! He was in HEAVEN with all the people and just walked in circles wagging his tail, sooo happy to have everyone pet him and scratch him. Ha. (Everyone kept saying, “He’s such a happy dog!”)

His new buddies, Hunter and Rocky:

And here was Charlie all day Sunday, after the party…EXHAUSTED:

Awards Nights:

We had 2 awards nights this week (for Asher).

Sunday was the annual club swim team banquet. The head coach always puts on a nice event with lots of “connect to purpose” statements and stories in his speeches. There were also 3 Senior swimmer speeches (always emotional!) and it’s just such a nice recap of the year.

I always walk out of there feeling like, Yep, joining swim team was the best decision ever when he was 6 years old!! haha. Great kids, amazing life lessons, memories for a lifetime. 💗

Then on Wednesday night we went back to the same auditorium at the high school but this time for Asher’s Academic Awards night. He got a “4.0 GPA” award! Yay Asher! 🙂

Ethan + tennis:

This was Ethan’s first full week of tennis after try-outs week last week. So far, it’s going so great! He had matches both Tuesday and Thursday. I haven’t made it to one yet (they’re…. early (right after school) and weather was not particularly favorable). But I think he and his doubles partner won both! And more specifically, he seems to be super enthused about the social aspect. Sounds like he really gels with his “tennis friends”. He’s not necessarily the most naturally outgoing kid, so sports have been AMAZING for him. Instant connection and the best relationships are formed!

Now he’s off at an overnight tennis weekend in Milwaukee. He actually had to miss school for this yesterday, which I was not thrilled about. (If you recall, he was sick a couple days in March, then missed a couple more days for London, AND he gets his braces off this week and has 2 upcoming longer ortho appts in the middle of the school day…. ugh).

Also, get this- there was no bus for this away Varsity tournament! They had to be there at noon on Friday, on the far north side of Milwaukee (1.5 hours from home). The email notice said, “Players may drive themselves, carpool with another player, or ride with a parent.” Well, it was NOT on my radar to even attend this…. (it sounded like a team bonding type thing, staying in hotel together, etc. I assumed there’d be a bus!) I couldn’t drop everything and be off work, and anyway, I don’t think Ethan even wanted us there.

So, we ended up letting him drive, but I was not thrilled. He drives in busy traffic all the time here in Madison, including interstates, but this tennis thing involves downtown Milwaukee interstates! And he is unfamiliar with those routes. (I actually preferred to have him drive himself, alone, versus riding with a teammate… I mean, I at least generally trust and believe that Ethan is a smart, capable driver. If he rides with some random kid, well…. how do I know what kind of driver that kid is?!)

Thankfully, he made it, no issues. From his perspective, I think he’s having the time of his life. He got to miss school, he’s spending 2 days with friends/ teammates, and there is definitely a very grown-up feel to just packing up your stuff and driving off, alone, to a hotel for a weekend! (Obviously the coaches are around and stuff, but the kids are self-driving out to dinner, etc.) 😬 A new era in parenting for us, that’s for sure.

I was thinking this morning- it is pretty awesome (and strange!) to have older, more independent kids now, though. Like yesterday morning, I was working, and Ethan packed up all his tennis stuff, packed his own overnight bag, presumably made sure he had gas in the car and a sweatshirt and a toothbrush along, programmed the GPS and drove off with his own credit card and money in his pocket. WEIRD. I literally did nothing besides give him a hug and kiss goodbye and say, “Got everything?” (And tell him to text me immediately when he arrived!)

That said, I’ll be relieved when he gets home later this afternoon. 🙂

Blog-versary!

I realized the other day that I just passed my FIFTH blog anniversary!! Holy cow!

5 years! That sounds…. like a long time! I can’t believe I’ve kept this up!! I’ll always remember when I started my blog, though. It was literally the first week of lockdown during COVID.

Here’s a pic from my first month of blogging, from a post where I casually mention that it’s Day 25 of lockdown…

I also shared this quote in that post! Which, I forgot about, but really like!

“View things as a catastrophe, and you’ll be overwhelmed by strong emotions and become paralyzed. View things as a challenge, and you will successfully ride the waves of these emotions and become mobilized.” – Dr. Alan Goldberg of competitiveedge.com 

Big thanks to anyone who has been reading since those early days!! 😉 What a blessing writing and blogging has been in my life. 💗

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for a long shower this morning. I’ve been taking super quick, rushed showers all week, and often getting the tail end of the hot water after everyone else showers before work/school! I took a long, hot, luxurious shower at 6 a.m. today and it felt so good.