Dogs 101

Alright, I know it's going to be a long, long, long time before Will and I are in a place where we can afford a dog, but I can't lie, one of my favorite things to do when I'm bored is research different dog breeds and try to decide which one I'm going to bring home when it's finally time.

But I have a problem.  It's called Dogs 101.  It's a show on Animal Planet (that I happen to be watching right now) that makes my decision so much HARDER!  Every time they showcase a new breed, I want it.  Well, not always.  I am not a small dog/lap dog/ugly dog/dog so large you can ride it person, so breeds like the Xoloitzcuintli (Mexican hairless), Italian Greyhound, Pekingese, and Mastiff don't tempt me in the least.  In fact, for the longest time, I've been set on getting his/hers Siberian Huskies when we finally get a house with a yard.  Then I started watching this show.

So many great dogs!  Do you think Will would mind if we had a Husky, a Border Collie, a Korthals Griffon, a Brittany, an Australian Shepherd, an Alaskan Malamute, and an English Springer Spaniel? 

I don't think so, either.

Well, at least I have a "type," if you consider medium/medium large, family-oriented, sporting/hunting/herding dogs to be a single type.  But sometimes I also find myself sighing over larger breeds (Bernese Mountain Dog... sigh) and even some smaller ones (like the Basenji... who wouldn't be fascinated by a non-barking dog?).

Anyway, I guess it's a good thing I've got a while to decide.  And of course, undecided things like climate, yard size, and the age of our children will heavily influence my choice.

What kind of dogs do you dream of owning?  Or have you already had one?  Or are you not a dog person at all?

NOTE: If you're thinking about starting some dog research, I'd definitely recommend seeing if the Dogs 101 site has a video on the breed you're considering.  Not only do they give a brief history of the breed and a general description, they also go into detail about ideal environment (house vs apartment vs farm), exercise requirements, ideal family type (basically: are they good with small children?), grooming requirements, and overall health of the breed.

When will she come?

I posted a poll about when Joci will get here, don't forget to vote!  Only three weeks and four days until my due date.  I'm full term on Monday, so as far as I'm concerned, she can come as soon as she wants after that.

It's hard to imagine being alone in my body again... but it will also be nice not to feel like a boulder is tumbling around in my insides.  She's a strong little thing!

A Good Idea for Parents

A while ago, my former Young Women's president, now my good friend, Anne, told me about something that she does for each of her kids.  She keeps a journal for each one and records stories just about them, so that when they're older that they can go back and catch a glimpse their childhood.

Of course, the most ideal way to capture a kid's quirks is video, but we always seems to miss the good stuff. 

So I think this is an incredible idea.  Even though I've recorded many stories about Chaela on this blog, it's definitely not the same as having a slightly more private collection specifically about her.  Tonight I finally started it; I covered what I could remember about her first year and then recorded her most recent escapade (the naked wake-up call). 

I have to say, I feel really good about this.  She's such a funny kid that it should be a pretty good read 16 years from now.  My plan is to keep it up through her teenage years, then print it out and bind it when she turns 18.  Even if I don't manage to do it religiously for that long, I want to at least record her early childhood.  And since it's on the computer, it's also easy to add pictures.  Nice.

I've started one for Joci, too, because she'll be here pretty soon.  I don't have any stories about her yet, but I started with my pregnancy to this point and my thoughts and feelings about having a second little girl.

Anyway, I wanted to share this because so many of my friends are parents with young children.  I know a lot of us already write in our own journals, but often times there may be things in there we may not want to share with them until they're older.  This way I can let the kids look at their "books" whenever they want.

I think every parent should do something like this for their kids if they can.  I mean, baby books are great, but all they record are facts; this is a way to capture personality.  Thanks so much for the idea, Anne!

Some Humor

Will showed these to me today.  I think they're really funny.  I know it's annoying to click on links and watch videos, but do it!!

Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer (a spoof on movie trailers)

Title of the Song (a spoof on songs by boy bands; to skip all the talking and listen to the song, skip to 1:52)

Chaelaisms

Here are some of our latest adventures with Chaela and some of the things she likes to say.

I'm Buzz Ahya!  Infiny an beyon! ("I'm Buzz Lightyear!  To infinity and beyond!" usually said when daddy is "flying" her around.)

No, mommy, go-way.  ("I think I'm an adult, and I'm a bossy one.")

I put it riiiiiiiiiiiight dere.

Kampa!  Make a tent! ("Grandpa, put your head under this blanket this instant!")

NO, Pat!  No sit on DAT! (Random quote she says a lot from Hop on Pop)

When-niw mine refre-sha-sho whoma see insaaaaaaa!  (Singing, "When will my reflection show who I see inside?"  Then repeat, but screamed instead of sung.)

Anoise, noise, Noise, NOISE!! (From The Grinch, "Oh the noise, noise..." etc.  Especially pleasant when shouted in the car for 5-10 minutes without stopping.)

Chaela: Woody... a GIRL!
Me: No, honey, Woody is a boy.
Chaela: NO!  Woody.... a GIRL! (She's learning about girls and boys.)

Baby sit on meen potty! ("I'm telling you I want to sit on my potty because I know you'll run to the bathroom, and then I won't use the potty but instead climb on my stool and demand to wash my hands for the eighth time today, because that's my sneaky way of getting to play in the water since you refuse to let me frolic in Gretel's water dish.")  (She calls herself "baby," which we're working on, "meen" is her word for "my/mine.")


First story:

On Wednesday I made the mistake of leaving the TV remote on the table where Chaela could reach it.  We put stuff like that up, because if we don't, Chaela takes it and drops it in one of several little magpie-like caches.  Anyway, I came down later that night and it was gone.  Will and I spent a half an hour looking for it.  We asked Chaela if she knew where it was, and she pretended not to know what we were talking about.
Finally, after a half an hour of searching, I sat Chaela down right in front of me, looked her in the eye, and said, "Honey, you won't be in trouble, you can tell mommy.  Did you play with the remote earlier today?"
She eyeballed me for a minute, then said, "Yeah..."
"Ok," I replied," do you know where you left it?"
She spun around like a top, pointed dramatically at a long, skinny table with a drawer in it, and yelled (in apparent shock,  "Oh!  Dere it is!"
She jumped off my lap, ran over, and pulled open the drawer in the table (which was good, because I thought she was pointing to a box under it) and yelled, "YOOK!  Right DERE!"  Sure enough, there it was.

Story two:

About fifteen minutes ago, Will sent Chaela upstairs with a dirty diaper.  I laid her down so I could change her, and all of the sudden she lifted up her shirt and pointed to her belly button.
"Yook, mommy, yook!  Baby color dat!"
I was focused on the diaper, so I just nodded and said, distractedly, "Mm-hm, good job, honey!"
As I was getting ready to stand up and throw away the diaper, I noticed several streaks of yellow marker on her arm.
"Baby color dat, mommy," she told me, showing me her arm.  Then she lifted her shirt again.  This time, I looked at her belly button.  "Yook, mommy, baby color dat, too!"
Yup.  Chaela colored her belly button yellow.

Life will have much less humor in it when I no longer have a toddler.  That's why I'm having another one.

A Review of the YA Fantasy Genre

I've been reading quite a bit of the YA (young adult) fantasy genre lately, and I have to say, overall I'm disappointed.

Not about everything.  I've turned to YA in recent months because my lifelong go-to genre, adult sci-fi/fantasy, has left me crying out for the tiniest breath of original thought.  YA, I feel, has some of the best, most original stories out there right now.  They're also usually more fun and funny than their adult counterparts, which take themselves much too seriously, especially considering their subject matter.

Amazingly creative as some of the stories are, there are a few basics that many authors in genre just kind of skip when it suits them.

This is the story that doesn't end.
With the exception of snobby literature, where ending a story without actually ending it is "edgy" or "art," no novel should be over before it really does end.  You can't just leave entire huge plotlines unfinished; that makes readers unhappy.  I'm not saying summarize the rest of the characters' lives, I'm saying, if the whole book is about two characters getting married to end a war, and then you end the book with the characters confessing their love for each other and just stop writing without mention of the war at all, that's bad.

"I can't explain it!"
This has been a huge problem in many YA fantasy books I've read.  We're going along fine, liking the book pretty well, when all of the sudden an event happens that's not explainable even by the magic in the book. 
For example, in one book I read this week, a girl falls from hundreds of feet in the air while flying over a battle taking place on a mountaintop, then wakes up in her bed. She even wonders to herself how it happens, then says, "To this day, I can't explain it."  
Excuse me?  You, the writer, the supreme being in this universe, can't come up with something?  To me that says, "I am either too lazy or not talented enough to come up with a plausible explanation, so this is what you get."  Not good enough, my friend.  Not good enough.

Race to the finish.
A suitable climax wraps up all of the big stuff, the guy gets the girl, the spell is broken, etc., etc.  At this time, a good writer will wind down and take the time to give you a really great ending, because as we learned in high school, while the climax usually happens towards the end, it is not actually the end.  The climax usually has aftermath that needs to be dealt with.  Who lived after that large battle?  Who died?  What direction are things going in now, i. e., happily ever after (stand-alone book) or not as great as we had hoped (sequel coming soon)? These are the questions that are usually answered post-climax; this is the time to show the reader how things actually stand.  A lot of YA books, having gotten us through the climax, feel like that's enough.  I may be alone here, but I just don't feel like it is.

"I hate you with a passion that burns, as I have for 200 pages!  No!  Come back!  The book is ending and I just decided exactly right now that I love you!  Let's get married!"
 That pretty much sums that one up.  The worst part is that this happens in almost every single YA book I read.  Every.  Single.  One. 
Granted, it's not always like that.  Sometimes they randomly decide to be in love at the beginning or middle of the story. But for it to feel real, a relationship like this needs time to develop, unless you can explain it with some kind of instantaneous, magical bonding, which some stories do.  (A sudden attack of endless love is something I'm working on with my own story right now.  As it stands, things are too rushed.)

On an unrelated note, my two year old is walking around saying, "Simmer down, man!"  Maybe that's what I need to do.