Yesterday I spent an hour and a half in a meeting room at my daughter’s school. One with a giant window, where anyone walking past could see the private and confidential information projected onto a screen because a staff member thoughtfully decided it would be easier to read than huddling around a laptop. Nothing saysContinue reading “Annual pointlessness”
Category Archives: Surreal life
Anyone got a paddle?
For the last month our daughter hasn’t slept through more than one night a week. Most nights, if I’m lucky, I get a three hour block before I hear the tiny voice at the bedroom door informing me she “had a nightmare.” The nightmares, according to her, involve snakes, witches, monsters, spiders and, somewhat lessContinue reading “Anyone got a paddle?”
Earning his keep
We are a long way from having trained our puppy in any serious way. I mean that in both the sense of he’s not a service dog yet and in the sense that i spent the last week teaching him to play ‘the floor is lava’ and to drop to floor if I make aContinue reading “Earning his keep”
Puppy bench enthusiast
Watching the World Go By (Or: How I Accidentally Trained My Dog to Become a Bench Enthusiast) We are still working on the puppy being less reactive. By “less reactive” I mean ideally he would like to stop attempting to greet every individual leaf, blade of grass, and passing breeze like a long-lost friend. ToContinue reading “Puppy bench enthusiast”
Pouring from the non-existent empty bucket
Ever heard the phrase you can’t pour from an empty bucket? I have. Mostly from therapists. I hate it, it’s such a stupid thing to say. We’re not containers with a finite amount of ‘stuff’ also what is it that we’re pouring? Love? Energy? Sarcasm? That last one I promise I have an endless wellContinue reading “Pouring from the non-existent empty bucket”
Things I wish could go unsaid
But Apparently Need Saying: Don’t Poison the Puppy In her defence, she didn’t actually mean to poison the dog. She was simply having a minor meltdown over the outrageous injustice of not being allowed her iPad at the table. To put this into context: she has never been allowed her iPad at the table. ThisContinue reading “Things I wish could go unsaid”
Neurodivergent puppy
The Puppy Is Possibly Neurodivergent I am beginning to think that we have ended up with an autistic puppy. I mentioned this to another dog owner and was informed that all dogs are autistic. Learn something new every day. He definitely has ADHD and access to the same endless energy supply that the child soContinue reading “Neurodivergent puppy”
Instruction unclear…
We are still (how long does the land shark stage last?!) trying to convince our puppy that body parts are not chew toys and that he is not to ‘mouth’ us. That’s such a cute term to have a carnivorous predator with a mouth full of needle sharp teeth latch onto your extremities and gnawContinue reading “Instruction unclear…”
Three Dogs in a Trenchcoat
Because we have questions over how to train our puppy to be a service dog, and frankly how to train it so it doesn’t eat its own poop and to come back when called we hired a trainer. She’s a lovely lady who is accredited to train therapy dogs, great. She is local and happyContinue reading “Three Dogs in a Trenchcoat”
Safeguarding is not optional 2
So it’s been a few days since I quite impressively lost the plot at the gym over the complete failure to safeguard the kids club. To the credit of the Activities Manager, he emailed me on the Sunday assuring me he would follow up. I shot an email back asking two main questions: how didContinue reading “Safeguarding is not optional 2”
Raising the Modern Fae 