Solo Parenting

Taking care of a 6 year old dog in the summer is a breeze!

Hey, Loners. Happy Saturday.

I’m solo parenting Georgia for 10 days, and I’m really enjoying it. I thought maybe she’d sleep in bed with me all night since Sofia’s not around, but she eventually abandons me for the floor. She does, however, get back into bed in the morning for about an hour of cuddling and pets.

When Georgia was maybe a year old, she used to just stare at us and stare at us, and eventually we realized she was asking to be pet. So we taught her the command “more.” Now, in the morning, she comes up and paws at me. I say, “Pets?” She paws me again. I say, “More?” Her ears go back, and she gets pets. Then she paws me again, and we repeat this process until one of us has had enough. It’s never her.

I know you’re thinking, My God, why is she telling us this? Well, because like everybody I know with kids, my entire life revolves around the dog this week. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO SHARE!

Our routine has become very domestic. In the morning, Georgia likes to get her bathroom business out of the way and then generally lies on the front porch and goes back to sleep. Before lunch, we do a long walk, and lately I’ve been letting her swim. There’s a cove near us that usually doesn’t have any people around, so I grab pieces of wood and throw them into the water for her. She swims out to get them but absolutely refuses to bring them back, so every throw requires me to find another piece of wood. We’re both having fun! I swear!

We have a professional dog hair dryer we bought from Jess Rona, so after swimming I dry Georgia off, feed her lunch, and toss her in the crate for a couple hours of big-girl nap time. Late afternoon, we go on another big, epic walk before dinner. I’ve been trying to get over 10,000 steps every day. I tell myself it’s for her, but it’s actually for me. I have a few spots I like to take her because I can let her off leash and she gets her Zoomies out.

Post zoomies.

In the evenings, I’ve mostly been watching documentaries. A couple I liked:

Monsters of God — From director Eric Goode, who made Tiger King. It’s about the world of exotic animal smuggling and the global wildlife trade. Obviously pretty dark and upsetting at times, but I found it fascinating. Next episode drops Thursday. So…if you’re a binge in one sitting person…wait.

Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult — Directed by Chris Smith. Sara told me to watch this (I think?). WEIRD AF!!! I sort of vaguely recall this story. But…a wacky tale.

I’ve also been going to bed pretty early and finished a couple books this week.

Wilderness Mother by Deanna Barnhardt Kawatski — I found this fascinating. It’s about a woman who raised her two kids off-grid in Northern BC for 13 years.

Dog Days by Emily LaBarge — This one is harder to describe. It’s partly an account of the author and her family being held hostage over Christmas in 2009, but it’s also about trauma, memory and art, and the ways we tell stories about terrible things that have happened to us. It’s described as a “literary experiment.” Very strange, very interesting, and unlike anything I’ve read recently.

It’s a busy time of year where we are, which is adding some interesting flavours to my alone time with Georgia. I think she’s a little more defensive and protective of me when Sofia isn’t here—which probably just means she trusts Sofia more to take care of both of us. There have been a couple random dogs on our property that she’s chased off, and some growling at unfamiliar dogs we’ve passed on the paths near us. But overall, she’s been easy. I brush her every couple of days and am currently working up the courage to do her teeth so our trainer doesn’t yell at us the next time he takes care of her.

In an hour or two, I’m taking her for a playdate with a neighbour’s dog to get some of her excitement out before guests arrive for the weekend. This will be my first time solo parenting Georgia while hosting, and adding a whole other flavour to the experiment: the people coming have a kid. But I’m feeling pretty confident. Mostly. I may have made a visual guide for the guests that I may or may not send to them. Still deciding.

Very excited for next week’s Dream Dump on Tuesday. We’ll be dropping our episode with Leisha Hailey, which accidentally went out last week. Oops. If you were one of the people who got an accidental sneak peek, congratulations. I loved this episode and I love Leisha. I genuinely don’t think I’ve laughed as much or as hard recording Dream Dump as I did with her. I hope you enjoy it when it officially comes out Tuesday.

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Okay, bye everybody. Back to parenting.

Hope whatever you’re doing this Saturday is fun, fulfilling, and exciting.

-Tegan