Category Archives: puppy

3 Must Haves On Your Christmas Shopping List

I am a meticulous shopper. I do all my research before buying anything, and I have put a lot of thought into my Christmas shopping list. The following three items are absolute must haves for this season… for a toddler. If you don’t have children, and are not planning on buying anything for anyone else’s children, then please feel free to read my other posts. They are very good. I promise.
If you are interested in shopping for small children, I guarantee the following three items are a crowd pleaser. Even if your crowd consists of itsy bitsy ones.
They help your toddler further develop their fine motor skills, and expand their imagination. And if you don’t mind finding duplo blocks all over your house, they will keep your toddler occupied for hours. Totally worth it.
It gives your toddler oodles of buttons to press. It is instructional. Best of all, it keeps your little one off of your laptop. Next time he/she reaches for yours, hand them their own. You will both be happy.
Your little one is getting to the age where they will see puppies and kitties and want a pet. This one is perfect. You don’t have to feed it. And walking is optional. If you already have a dog, this one is easy for your little one to walk, and it will play with him/her endlessly.
All of these products are affordable. Also, they make minimal amounts of noise (even the laptop is not terribly annoying). Happy shopping!
If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to read my other ones, they are all equally good. If you read this far, and did not care for this post, I swear this is the worst post I have ever written, so read others because they are much better.

Why My Children’s Goldfish Scares Me

I have to confess, I am terrible at keeping things alive. Since I have two small children, I know this may sound scary, but I assure you, I am great with the kids. Plants and high maintenance pets on the other hand are a completely different story.
I once had a fern. It died. Ferns are supposed to be super easy to maintain and extremely durable. I inadvertently killed a cactus. They don’t even require water! People give me plants as gifts a lot. Despite my best efforts they never make it more than a week.
So, one day, not long from now, when one of my kids brings home a pet, unless it is a kitty or a puppy, I am terrified of the outcome. I can just see the tears and screaming when their goldfish, which they so carefully named, and loved, goes missing. How many times am I going to have to replace it in the middle of the night? How similar do hamster look? Will they know Buttons is an imposter?
Aside from cats and dogs (of which I have my share), pets can be a lot of maintenance. And even though I know my kids will absolutely promise to take care of them, I know from experience that the duty will fall to the parents. Which is why I pray my husband’s green thumb translates into a purple thumb and he will be better equipped to understand the complex filtration and temperature system which comes with a fish tank. I hope he knows about overfeeding small rodents. I hope he knows about the temperature requirements of iguanas. Because I thought I did. I had done all the research, spend meticulous hours adjusting and readjusting the living conditions for my various pets (and mind you I was not a little kid at the time, I was in college). I would check water alkalinity and even make sure there were enough bubbles. I may have even counted the grains of sand at the bottom of the tank. All for nothing. My fish never made it to the end of the week. My mice passed out and died. I never had a bird, but if I had, it probably would have suffered a similar fate. Which is why I am terrified of my children’s pets.
How do you feel about pets your children brought home?P.S. I had to amend this post, because my husband brought it to my attention that I did not specify that after stating my mice passed out I did not follow up with their untimely death. Poor little Blackie passed out and died.