Doggie Troubles

Meet Sky.  He looks pretty sweet, huh?

Well, don't let him fool you,  we are having major dog issues in our house.

Sky, is a pitbull, read: highly emotional, is acting out like an angry toddler, but he is almost 9 years old.

Peter came home today early, and upon arrival, he went straight to Penelope and gave her a kiss and hug, kissed me, petted Sky and then sat down with Penelope to read a book to her. Then as soon as we sat down to read the book, Sky went over to our bookcase, in another room, and proceeded to chew off part of it! We don't have much nice furniture, and of course this bookcase is one of our nice, new pieces.

He has been a little mopey all year, since Penelope arrived, but now all of a sudden he is really acting out. He is also getting more aggressive when the door bell rings, to the point that the UPS man, one day, wouldn't even come up the stairs he was so terrified. Which was actually kind of funny, the poor guy, kept stuttering... " I can't do it, ma'am, I just can't do it!" To which, I replied, "You are a UPS Man, for crying out loud, you can do it!!" And he would take one step up my steps and then say again, while shaking his head, " I can't do it!" I had to coax him up every step!!

Sky also puts his paws on the table and her highchair to get food when we step away for a second. He has stracted up her highchair doing this. He also will do this on the kitchen counters now.

He chewed up one of her toys a couple of weeks ago. I had just brought it home and he went straight for it and before I could get it, he chewed the head of the poor, hand made, non-toxic stained, wooden horse!

I don't know what to do!  I am thinking of reading the book the Dog Whisperer. Has anyone read it?

For the most part, we still take really good care of Sky. He goes on two small walks a day, long walks on the weekend,  eats good, organic, canned food. I pet him and cuddle with him anytime I can, (it is less than pre-Penelope) but he is not neglected in the slightest. The biggest thing, is that he does not sleep in our bed anymore. With Penelope in the bed, I just got so worried about germs. He has been known to rub his butt on our sheets.

Who knows what is going on?! Help!

Baby/Tot Yoga: Moon Toe!

Penelope is growing up!

We have recently started to only do Tot yoga poses! She no longer wants to be on her back, whether we are doing yoga or a diaper change. A lot of babies naturally do Moon Toe as a part of their body development. If you see them doing this on their own, say "Yay! Moon Toe!!" and you are a head of the game, as far as word association goes, in teaching them how to do this pose on their own.












































To start, you put them in your lap, facing out. Then gently hold their toe out, like so. Eventually, you want them to grab their foot and then you move their legs, but when they are just learning the pose, they usually don't grab their foot. Once you have moved them into position, you sing/say "Moon Toe!" You go back and forth, doing the pose on each leg.












































Then you can do "Double Moon Toe!" By bringing both feet out.

You also want to show them how YOU can do the pose.

Especially for older tots, who will not let you "move" them into the pose and only want to do it themselves. It's a great stretch for Mama, but if you haven't stretched in a while, don't bust your leg up fast. Be gentle with yourself, until you are more flexible, and bend your knee if you need too. Once you have your leg up, say things like, "Watch Mama do Moon Toe!" or "Mama's Turn!" and then you would say to them, "Now, its your turn!" Don't be discouraged if it takes awhile for your baby to pick it up on their own. Repetition is key. Eventually they will get it, and then you wont be able to get them to stop!

Just FYI, most of the baby yoga poses I post, I learned at my Itsy Bitsy Yoga training. The founder and creator, Helen Garabedian, has a great book and dvds that you can purchase to help your home practice. Or you can go to her website and try and find a class near you!