Martinez Family Journal

I am posting a number of funny little things from the last month or so that I wrote down so as not to forget them. I'll put some of them in this post and the rest in another.

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Matt thrashes around a lot when he sleeps, sometimes ending up with his head at our feet, completely out of the covers or occasionally even falling out of the bed. One recent night, it was quite cold and he had wriggled out from under the covers. Mary and I both happened to be awake deep into the night and she asked me to help get him back under the covers. After commenting on how hard it is to keep him covered and Matt not appearing to be awake at all, Mary said, "Let's sew him in." Before I could say anything, we heard a little voice objecting, "No!" We were so surprised he was even awake and realizing he thought Mary was serious, that we started laughing, and we could hear Matt giggling along with us until he settled back to sleep.

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Training a new puppy requires a lot of disciplining to get desired messages across. Shortly after we got our new pup, Pepper, he was having trouble adjusting to being in the crate, and I would have to tell him "No!" if he started to howl. After some of this, it was time to take him out as part of his house training. As I was carrying Pepper to the door, Matt said, quite matter-of-factly, "I don't think he really likes you any more."

I nearly bust a gut laughing, and I had to explain to Matt the basics of dog discipline, being dominant over him, etc., so I could assure him it was OK and that Pepper was not being scarred by this! I think Matt still was convinced that Pepper was resenting my sometimes harsh tone until he could see for himself that Pepper still sought me out for play…

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As we struggled to choose a name for our puppy, we had many disagreements. One that stands out was when I first suggested the name "Pepper," which we ultimately chose. When I mentioned it to Drew, he said, "No way! I'm not having our dog named after something used to flavor food!"

Drew has since had a change of heart. :-)

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The day Mary first suggested we go ahead and get a new puppy as my late b-day present, she was being a little coy about just what she was up to. I had talked about getting another so I could have an exercise companion again and to give Rory some company, but we had not seriously discussed it. She had seen a nice puppy listed in the Roswell shelter, so she was asking about how far a drive it is to get down to Roswell. As with most people, Drew knows of Roswell only in connection with the alleged UFO incident there, and I, too, thought Mary was suggesting we go down there and check out the touristy stuff there as an unusual outing that would interest Drew. When I asked Drew, "Why do you think mom is concerned with Roswell?", he completely surprised both of us by answering (in apparent sincerity),"Is it because she's an alien?"

That had us laughing for quite a while!

John