Also, keep the clutter to a minimum. No one needs that many toys. If the toys aren't contained in the kids' room, there are too many toys. Be a good example and clean up the house once a day just like they should clean up their room every day.
We are very lucky that we have such healthy, happy girls and that Nathaniel and I agree on parenting them to be a part of the family, not the center of the family.
That being said, where is Super Pet-Taking-Care-Of Show? We are bad, bad pet parents now. Chester is actually at the vet's this weekend, getting sown up from a cat fight with a some wild farm beast. We didn't even see the wound for, like, three days. And we looked! But not well enough, obviously.
Ava peed on the basement floor again yesterday after going a week without a mistake. We didn't throw a stick for her all day. Then she knocked over a beer with her tail while Amanda and I were watching "Becoming Jane" and lapped up quite a bit of Corona while I was fetching a dishcloth. Cooper, meanwhile, was on my bed, eating a diaper. His second diaper of the week. Son of a monkey.
Cooper and Sonja have a darling and loving relationship. She gives him open-mouthed kisses on his nose and he licks her cheeks. She loves both the dogs so much-- she waves at them and they wag their tails back at her. It's all too cute.
