New House Rules

Recently, we've had to state, restate, and constantly enforce the following House Rules, which I never thought I'd have to introduce to my child:

1) No drinking from the dog's water bowl. No, not even a sip.

2) Do not let the dog lick your mouth.

3) When the dog starts licking your mouth (see Rule #2), do not, under any circumstances, stick out your tongue so she can lick that, too. [Bear finds these "French kisses" between them amusing; I, who have seen Cate use her tongue as toilet paper, find it so revolting I can hardly stand to type it.]

4) Do not feed your toys, your spaghetti, or your sippy cup of "chocka-meeeelk" to the dog.

Cate, on the other hand, has been very well-behaved lately...coincidentally or not, this started right after I finished sealing off the Giant Ugly Slope so she can frolick in the back yard more freely, so maybe that's getting some of her puppy mischief out of her system.

And speaking of mischief, one of the things I've learned as a parent is that sometimes you have to allow for low-level mischief, in order to prevent the more severe version. We started taping off and painting the hallway today, during which time we pretended not to notice while Cubby took all the stuff out from under her bathroom cabinet. The uninterrupted Home Improvement Time it earned us was well worth the brief cleanup! Note the lovely headband that she has so artfully arranged atop her head:

Oh, and check out the FREAKING ADORABLE pants my friend made for Cubby: