31 Days of John Moments: Day 13

Linkup at The Nester blog

The moments when John is angry.

Yesterday John was really upset with our dogs. Our pup is digging holes in the yard. Possibly after a mole, but nonetheless, holes. He is adequately exercised, so it shouldn't be pure boredom.

Then there's Ernie. Needy needy needy Ernie. He had a really hard time sharing his attention with Sophia, but I think also sharing with Eli now has put him over the edge. He sleeps in the garage, we put him outside more to keep Eli company. He probably gets 1/4 of the attention he used to and hears the word "no" 10 times more than he used to. No don't jump up here, no don't lick Sophia in the mouth, no, down, outside, in your kennel.

So Ernie has become an escape artist. Digging, squeezing under weak parts of the fence. Sometimes within mere minutes of going outside. It's really beginning to be a BIG pain.

So one time, Eli chewed the foam padding off the handle of my stroller. This was after weeks of chewing, and using the bathroom in the garage. I got really upset and Eli I hated him. I was really angry, but just blowing off steam.

Well, John was ready to haul him off the pound then and there. His parents had a lot of problems over animals in their relationship (one loving them no matter what havoc they wreaked and one wanting to get rid of them). John is very sensitive in this area, and he wasn't going to have that happen to us. I basically had to tell him I don't just drop animals at the pound once I've committed to taking them into our home. That I was angry and we just needed to figure out a better way to handle Eli. (Aka he's now locked out of the garage except sleeping).

Anyway, today John was really upset about the digging. And he was talking about getting rid of them. We talked about who should go and why, or who should stay and why. Of course there was no good answer.
In the end, I think John was just blowing off steam like I was before. For now he's re-re-re-inforced the fence where Ernie is getting out.

But it made me feel good that he could get really mad at the dogs too, and that in no uncertain terms would the dogs ever come before me or even be on the same level as me.