Bodily Functions (I use the word defecate a lot in this one.)

Penelope is almost completely housetrained. She has finally figured out, that going in her crate is not good. She whimpers when she needs to go out at night. Since I am bionic woman, my hearing is such that any little noise from her crate wakes me up. This is good, and bad. Last night and the night before Penelope whined in her crate no less than 4 times during the night. Admittedly on Sunday I had given them a little bit of chicken fat with their dinner. There was grease/juice in the pan that I had cooked the chicken in, so I just drained it over their food. This doesn't bother Lily, she was fine. Penelope was given a nasty case of diarrhea.

I was pleased that she let me know she needed out, and every time I took her, she did run to the area of the yard they most like to defecate in (which is, lucky for us, the far south west corner of the yard) and squatted. I assume that she was going. That is not a position I have ever seen a non-defecating dog in.

Last night it was the same thing but after the 3rd call at 1am (after putting her her in her crate at 8:30) I decided to just leave her out. I was exhausted and already having trouble sleeping due to a million things on my mind*. Every time I would fall into a nice dream-like state, I would hear her "Hmmmmmmmm" noise and my eyes would pop open. I would grudgingly get out of bed and wander to her crate, where she would be standing and looking at me. Sort of pacing and as soon as the crate door was opened she was off, to stand by the door waiting for me.

Then this morning, I found a nearly dry pile where she had had an accident the day before. A messy one. She hasn't defecated in the house in a while, and this was pretty watery so I know she didn't do it willfully. Poor thing, she was doing so well. She had also had a small accident in her crate when Gwennie and I were dropping Rhayn off at school Monday morning.

She is even letting me know when she needs to go out during the day. She will come to me, look at me, and then stand by the door (if I didn't see her by the door before.) I am excited to have her housetrained. It is a really big deal for her.

As for the diarrhea, I put some pumpkin into her breakfast and it seems to have hardened things right up (thanks Cornfed Princess! for the suggestion. I will have to remember it always, because she didn't mind it at all, in fact she seemed to like the pumpkin!)

Now, on to Gwennie.

First of all- how cute is this picture?

As I am typing that is how she is sleeping, on the floor with her Lily. Lily doesn't seem to mind. at. all. She is such a good dog. Penelope doesn't mind Gwennie on her either, but she runs a bit hotter and prefers to sleep on the kitchen floor under the table. It has to be cooler there. Lily sleeps by us usually.

Gwennie still has the occasional accident (pee only) when she doesn't make it to the potty on time. She is still in diapers at night. With Rhayn I sort of pushed the night training right away and she had many accidents. I had attempted to let Gwennie be diaper-free at night about 3 times, and each time I woke up covered in pee. Fun times.

This last week, she has been dry every morning. Am I ready to take the diapers away? No. I am waiting for her to wake up in the night and go pee. Just being able to stay dry all night isn't my indicator of not getting peed on. (Although when Daddy comes home, she will be sleeping in Rhayn's room again.) I need to know that she will wake up if she needs to go.

This afternoon, about ten minutes before the above picture was taken, she woke up, saying "I need to go potty." Her voice groggy and tired and not fully awake. She stumbled into the bathroom and went. But she had peed in her pants a little bit. This is a good sign. No, not the peeing in her pants part, the waking up part. She is getting ready to be diaper-free. I look forward to not washing her diapers anymore. Although since she rarely pees in them, its not a big deal. Even if she does pee in them, I wash them with my whites anyway (on hot) so its not even an extra load. I figure a diaper thrown in the whites is less laundry than the whole set of bedding, especially since my kids don't sleep UNDER the covers.

I heard a loud fart, then another and looked over at Gwennie.
"Was that you or Lily?"
"I don't know." Riotous laughter ripped out of me.
"Mom, its not funny."
"I can't stop laughing."
"Humph its not funny!"
Ha ha ha. Yes, sweetie it was funny, because fart jokes? They rank way up there on the list of things that will make your mommy laugh. out. loud. And also? I am pretty sure it was her, because dog farts? They stink.

*I am having a hard time shutting my mind off at night. I will lay in bed thinking of the things I want to accomplish the next day, but knowing that I will most likely start reading and not be able to escape that world. I am really looking forward to a) Will being home, so I can stop worrying about how it will be when he gets home and to b) the end of the next book. I am loving these books, but in an obsessive way that I haven't felt since I read the Twilight series.