A Few New Raynaisms & a Dougism, too!

Earlier this week, I had to leave for work before Rayna awakened, so I left it in her father's hands to put some medicine on a small spot that might or might not have been a ringworm. I had often explained to Rayna that we should only put a thin layer of medicine on the spot...just a little bit, just a dab. So, as her father proceded to medicate her spot for the first time, Rayna quickly spoke up to inform him, "You are just suppose to put a damp of it on me!"

A few mornings later, Grant brought out the generic, frosting free pop tarts he had gotten on his last grocery expedition. Rayna took one look at the tart lying on her plate and informed her daddy, "Daddy, these pop tarts are BLANK!"

Today, on the way to church, I overheard her in the backseat correcting her brother's pronunciation. He was slopping through her name without enunciating it to her standards, so she was grilling him over and over on it's correct pronunciation. Finally, on the verge of exasperation, she declared, "Doug, my name is RAY-NA...you know, like "RACHAEL RAY", only it is "RAY-na"!"


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Doug has had a few misunderstandings of his own! After the kids saw an Obama spoof on You-Tube that was coupled with a catchey little tune, Doug took to obsessing over Obama and singing his name over and over and over and over, until his father finally instructed him he was not allowed to say "Obama" any more. Well, that seemed innocutuous enough, until I over heard him a few days later berating Rayna, "Don't say, "Obama", Rayna! That's a BAD WORD. We don't say BAD WORDS!"

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Ransom (formerly Black), our new puppy, is adjusting well to life with our family. She has given up her original very independent, aloof ways and has turned into a very personable little pup. I don't think she will ever be particularly friendly with those outside of the family, but she is attaching very well to us, in spite of her original inclinations.

Meanwhile, we drag her everywhere and expose her to people all over the place so that she at least will not view strangers as enemies. She definitely knows she is OUR dog. When other people hold her, she will squirm and yelp in protest until they hand her back to us. She has not turned out to be as dominant/aggressive as I had originally worried she might be. She put up quite a fight the first few times she and I locked horns over an issue, but she has gotten to the place that she is quite willing to be led (much more quickly and easily than I had anticipated).

She really is going to end up being extremely easy to train. She is very intelligent and not thin-skinned or easily discouraged. She is just rock solid. She isn't afraid of anything and is a very calm, relaxed, confident pup.
Most dogs go through a "puppy stupid" stage...lacking common sense and elementary problem solving skills just from sheer inexperience. I haven't seen that yet with Ransom. She is quick to figure out a solution to any road-block she runs across and she seems to have surprisingly good common sense. We have had her home a week now. Already she is housebroken; sits on command; downs on command; comes on command; and enthusiastically retrieves the tennis ball, happily returning it to us. She has already gone swimming WAY over her head (following Gloria out into a part of the creek that was way over GLORIA'S head) and handled the experience like a pro. She is an excellent car rider and she doesn't mind the two little kids dragging her all over the place. Doug is a bit rough in everything he does, but Ransom doesn't seem to mind or even notice. She dearly loves him and he dearly loves her (this from a boy that started out UTTERLY TERRIFIED of dogs four years ago, and has remained rather leary of them and not terribly fond of them even stuck in a family with a dog-crazy mom and sisters...but, he LIKES this pup!).

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I will be leaving for El Salvadore in a week, so Grant will be doing the single-parent thing for a while. I'm not sure I will have a chance for much more blogging until after I get back stateside. (But, Lisa has ALL the puppies sold and delivered home now, so, at least I won't be busy with the "Puppy Blog" any more now!)