First Full Day With A Dog In My Apartment

I'm thinking to myself that I was very supported early last year when Lisa took in her mom's dog Zucco. But then again that was because I knew for a fact I wouldn't have to take care of it. Plus there was always a chance Lisa would tire of it which is, of course, exactly what happened after a couple of weeks. This time around is WAY different and it had more of the feel of when we took Johnnie home. Taking home a child has a permanency to it. This is it, good bad or ugly. And no matter what happens, no matter the adversity, the fights, divorce, or whatever you MUST make an adjustment for the sake of Johnnie. Getting a puppy like this also has a permanency to it. I mean what are you going to do, give it back if it doesn't work out. Nope. You have to adjust the notion of not working out. You figure things out. And by Lisa making this decision I reminded her yesterday that I am a small part of the equation of "figuring things out". And I felt like I also drew a large boundary line and defined my own: "to a degree". And I was proud of myself for that. Still I didn't expect that much change except for the sleeping part. I don't know WHY Lisa thought the dog should sleep in the cage. It's a puppy for God's sake, you can train her to be in a cage when she's a little older. The bottom line is that I know you do whatever you need to in order to make the puppy feel as less stressed and as comfortable as possible or you will hear it. As in the puppy will cry out. So last night I just ix-nayed the sleeping in the cage thing and let her sleep next to the bed so she could see me. I think that helped because she didn't cry the entire night. I also took her out to pee and poop the second I woke up. Sigh. Memories of being up all night feeding Johnnie every couple of hours. My personal battle scars LOL. Now I realize that my waking up routine is changing again. But then again I said it was ok didn't I. I signed up for it. Sigh. As far as the rest of the day, Johnnie's class schedule wasn't disrupted at all. And neither was my work schedule really. And I had a couple of meetings in the morning, one of them a job interview for the Data Analytics position. I was happy to talk to someone that might actually be qualified for the position. 

By midday I was thinking about adjustments, as in things we need to do differently since we have the dog now and we can't leave her at home. For one thing, dinner pick-up at Panda Express happened in Westwood instead of Sawtelle because I had to leave Johnnie in the car with the dog and I was much more comfortable doing that in the Westwood parking lot than in the Sawtelle parking structure. Then we also had to make sure she was walked outside and I don't mean a full walk but I kept sending Johnnie out with her so she could poop and pee. All good so far, despite the warnings from Lisa that she would poop inside the house on something. What I did NOT count on though was Lisa calling at 5:30 PM to check on us. Not that THAT was bad, and in fact that I was expecting really. But she insisted on buying a toothbrush for the dog and dropping it off tonight. THAT threw me for a loop. I know Tuesday nights are the nights Lisa feels that pang of being alone the most since she can't play soccer  anymore. But I had to remind her she still wasn't allowed inside the house. When I have Johnnie is our time together. As in alone together. And any event that includes Lisa is something that happens as a special event, like a birthday or a celebration of some sort. Any normal night like tonight, I simply prefer Johnnie and I do our thing, and now with the dog, and I really don't care WHAT Lisa does. And so Lisa picked up immediately that I was irritated about her coming over. I mean can't it wait until Thursday? Is the dog really going to feel the difference if she doesn't start brushing her teeth until then? I mean WHO brushes their dog's teeth anyway? Lisa seemed more than a little surprised that i wasn't actually welcoming her with open arms. Quite the opposite really. I can't really tell her straight out that she is STILL interrupting my PEACE and HARMONY. Like yesterday. Sigh. Still I let her come and she had to show me how to brush the dog's teeth right there at the front of my apartment. And then off she went thank God. And off we went back inside. Even Johnnie seemed confused. "What is mom doing here? he asked". I don't know Little Bug... she feels like she has to see the dog I guess and that's ok... was how I put it. Still it WAS our first full day with the dog without Lisa and I guess it's ok for her to think about how things were going. I hope she saw for herself that we're doing ok. All is good. This is ME we're talking about LOL. Why wouldn't it be?!