Bye Wrigley...

We made a very tough decision and had to give Wrigley up yesterday. About a month ago Stella just got fed up with all the humping and bothering and started to attack him. Since Stella was our dog first and a better fit for our family we gave up Wrigley. It was a very hard day and we were all pretty upset. To make matters worse we had a little drama, okay a lot of drama. Eddie did not want to drop him off so I asked my Mom to go with me. I drove up to Scottsdale, picked her up and we headed to the AZ Humane Society. I went to fill out the paper work and the lady informed me they were full and not taking any more animals. I got upset. Just earlier that morning Stella went after him and V was standing nearby. I did not want to take him home. I did not want to risk V or Wrigley getting hurt.

So my Mom called her vet and they gave her 4 numbers to shelters. They were all full. At this point I was losing it. I was so upset and the last lady that I talked to made things worse by telling me..."I feel sorry for you. That is a reallt bad situation. Either the dog or your daughter will end up getting hurt". I was thinking that but for someone else to say it out loud, I lost it. I was very clsoe to dropping him in the desert (I know...terrible...but I didn't know what to do. I was NOT going to risk my daughter over a dog!). Then my Mom says...what about Tucson? She was kinda half kidding but I immediately dialed the number. They were excepting dogs. Next thing I know we are drving down to Tucson to drop off Wrigley.

After a 2 1/2 road trip we got there. I must say I got a better feeling from it than I did from the Phoenix shelter. I filled out the paper work and said goodbye. I totally started to cry. It was really hard especially when I started to leave and he tried to follow me.

Although it has only been one day I know we made the right decision. It is so much calmer in our house and Stella is back to the sweet fun dog she was when we first got her. We took her to the dog park today and she had a blast.

We will miss Wrigley very much and he will always have a place in our hearts. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions that are better in the long run...

The Constitution

Today is National Constitution Day so in honor of this V school had an assembly this morning. Parents were invited to stay. Let me start by saying it was held outside and although it is Sept 17th it is still 88 or 89 degrees at 8 am. All the students sit together and the parents stood on the side. So I am standing there watching Victoria, oh and I left my sunglasses in the car so I am squinting. The boy scouts and girls scouts walk in carrying the flag and the 2nd graders are singing about the Preamble and I start to think about how my baby girl is at her first school assembly. I can not even beleive it, she is getting so big. And I start to cry!! Yes, I am standing there sweating and crying. And I am not talking a little bit, there are tears streaming down my cheeks. I am sure these parents were wondering why I was so emotional over the Constitution.

Never a dull moment

This past Saturday we spent the day together. Usually that doesn't happen so it was nice although Victoria reminded Eddie why he usually stays a home. First was her dance class. It is a small area crowded with parents. Poor Eddie couldn't wait for it to be over and spent the class half watchin from outside. Then we went shopping. Let me back up and say V was up at 5 in the morning and jsut spent the last hour dancing. needless to say she was tired, well overtired actually. Not crabby overtired but silly overtired. She was being so loud in the store but once again at least she was happy and laughing and not crying.
We had checked out and I started to push the cart to the car. Eddie and V were back a little. All of a sudden I hear V yelling. I turn around to see Eddie carrying V but he is carrrying her kinda different. His arm is around her waist and she is facing out. Not too crazy, just a little different. Well since she is in a silly mood she starts yelling..."this is not how you carry a kid!! this is not how you carry a kid!!". And all the people in the parking lot are now looking at them and laughing. We all know how much Eddie loves attention...I think he started to run to the van. I will say there is never a dull moment with Miss Victoria.

Ripped Good Worker Award

So I have mentioned in the past that every day V gets a good worker award from her teacher. If she is naughty the teacher will rip the award. Every night we ask her to give us her award. Well...on Weds night V came home with a ripped good worker award. Yep, the second one in two weeks. So I asked her what happened...here is the story. V was doing "arm farts" and her teacher asked her to stop. She wouldn't stop and then didn't want to go and sit down at her table. I asked her where she learned the arm farts and she said the mean girl at kids club. Yes she calls her the mean girl. It started because she was mean to V and her friends. Now if you ask her about the mean girl she says "the mean girl, oh yes she is very nice".
Okay, back to the arm farts...the best part of the story is that I was telling Eddie how she got into trouble at school and he says...oh yeah, that is why she wanted to wear a tank top, so she could do it easier. I swear...I told her no more arm farts.

Shape Hunt

This is a good one...so as I have mentioned every week V has 4 or 5 assignments for homework. Well last week they were learning about different shapes. One of her assignments was to go on a shape hunt around the house. She had to find three of each shape and I was to write down what she found. Things were going well. The remote was a rectangle, the cake mix box was a square. She was walking around looking for shapes. Stella was walking in front of her. She yells out "I found a circle...Stella's butt" and points to Stella butthole. I thought Eddie was going to spit his drink across the kitchen. I could hardly breathe because I was trying not to laugh. I said good Victoria but I need you to find another circle. Oh the joys...

My daughter is NOT the mean girl!!!!

That's right...this morning when I dropped of V at school Mrs. Smith told me some great news! She said yesterday there were some rumblings amongst the girls and V piped up and said "...come on girls we are all freinds here..." Her teacher went up to her and told her how great that was and this morning after she told me that I also told V how proud of her I am. I told her we could have a special dinner...so pizza it was. And for now things are calm on the Taugner home front...tomorrow is a new day ;)

She is good too...

It has been a rough couple of days for poor Victoria. After I won the war yesterday we had a very good talk and she was much better yesterday night and today. And I have to admit, when she is good, she is very good. Check out the picture. She sat and played with Stella for a good 45 minutes. She usually sits and plays like this with Kennedy when we are over at Len's. The difference is that Kennedy will play with her. He bats the toys with his paws. It is so funny. Lazy Stella just laid there. Victoria told me a couple of months ago she wants to be an animal doctor when she grows up. I really think she just might.

Oh, and for all of those who say that Victoria needs a sibling...she has her animals to play with. She doesn't need any siblings.

Ding..Ding...Round 2

It seems like jsut yesterday that Victoria had our first all out to blows fight...wait...it was like yesterday, well about a month ago but still. I will start by saying she was overtired which is usually when these things happen. Okay, here are the details. We were coming back from Best Buy and Victoria really started sassying back. I have had it with the arguing. We were going to stop at the grocery to get milk and I said forget it we are going home. And so it began...and once again she undid her seatbelt and that is when I flipped out. Oh it was bad. I pulled over and jumped in the back seat with Victoria and Eddie drove home. It was the longest drive home. And when we got home the fun continued.
For those of you that don't know what to get me for my birthday...a couple bottles of hair dye to cover all the grey I am getting would be great...

My daughter is the mean girl???

Yes you read right. I am not happy with this...On Friday when I picked up Victoria from school her "good worker award" was ripped and there was a note on it saying Victoria hit another student (she get these awards everyday. If it is ripped that means she did not have a good day. This is the first time it has been ripped). So I ask her what happened. She grabbed the note and started crying and wouldn't tell me. An hour and one potty stop later she told me, lets call it story #1 (yes there are more than one stories...ugh).
Story #1 was that her arm fell on "the other" Skylar (whatever that means) in PE class and it hurt him and that is why the teacher told me she hit him. This story was told during the flood of tears and snot.
Next we come to Story #2. The tears have stopped and she said she was going to tell me "what really happened". So here is Story #2...Her, Alexandra and Yazmin were reading books. Yazmin hit Alexandra with a book so Victoria hit Alexandra with a book. When I hear Story #2 I launch into Mother of the Year and start talking to Victoria about there were two things she did wrong, hitting and using a book incorrectly and how she needs to be nice to her friends, blah, blah, blah. I am comfortable (well not comfortable) that I now have the story of what happened.
And then I get a response to my email (Okay, let me back up a little. I was getting really pissed when she wouldn't tell me what happened so I emailed her teacher to find out what happened.) Her teacher tells me that over the last couple of weeks she has been noticing that there are certain girls in the room that are very selective of who they will play with and Victoria is one of them (and I am sure I know the others...) and that on Friday two other girls wanted to play with her and she said no and hit one of them. She has also noticed that amongst the selective group of girls Victoria changes daily who she plays with and the other is "not her friend". As I am reading this email I am becoming more and more mortified. Yes, mortified. I know it is a strong word but really?? Really?? My daughter is the mean girl??!!?? Oh hell no!! I will NOT have Victoria be the mean girl, there is no way! I mean, where does she get this from? We all know I am friends with everyone and Eddie, well Eddie isn't the "mean girl" type of guy.
So after finishing ready Story #3, the real story I call Victoria over to the couch to talk. I told her that her teacher emailed me what happened. I asked her why? I told her it isn't right to treat people that way. I told her if she continues with that behavior she will lose her privledges and toys.
I don't know how I am going to survive...for christ sakes we just made it through week 5 of KINDERGARTEN and we already have to deal with this shit?!!? I am exhausted...