Have you ever wondered what 45 dozen eggs look like? Yes, that is 45 DOZEN eggs. As in 540 eggs. Well…I’m about to show you.

My cousin’s side hustle is to sell eggs to friends and coworkers in the city. This week, the calves were being born, so she was super busy at the farm. Little Man and I spent the mornings at her house while my mother, youngest brother, and their fellow employee took over the house to prepare for their food truck (Yeah…I’m not even going to head in that direction). So, I volunteered to wipe them all down and get them packed in the various containers. She did have 30 dozen to do on her own, because let me tell you: cleaning and packaging eggs while you have a toddler running around, who wants to “Help, Mummy!” is not that easy. I only lost one egg, the very last one, which started to crumble as I picked it up. But HOLY EGGS BATMAN!!!

Little Man and I headed up to the lake Wednesday morning for an extra long visit. First thing he wanted to do? Go for a walk with “Auntie Bailey.” And of course, he wanted to hold the leash. That really means he holds the leash for a bit, she pulls too much, and he lets it go while she drags it and he tells Papa to do it. Then, once Papa picks up the leash, Little Man wants to do it on his own again. Whatever. He loves his Auntie, and this is good practice for when we eventually have a dog, or dogs, of our own. He eventually gave up with the leash thing and took off running down the street ahead of us. Best thing about country backroads – Not too many people driving them in the middle of the week.

Little Man has also had an impressive weekend. We went hardcore with the potty training, and Sunday, he even pooped in the toilet TWICE!!! We did have a big pee accident and a poop accident, but he’s getting really good at knowing when he’s got to go. The big test will be the 2.5 hour drive back to the burbs Monday morning – will he be able to hold it? Will he pee all over himself and the car seat? The world may never know…But really, he is doing so well. I used 1 daytime PullUp Wednesday once we got to the lake, and have not put another one on him. He’s only used the nighttime ones; granted, he did go through 3 of them Thursday night because he held his poop all day, and decided to take a big shit as soon as the pullup was on, and once I changed him, he peed in the next one. But that’s ok.

Now, I have heard about all of the different potty training methods. I would have loved to do the naked in 3 days thing, but with my mother starting a food trailer, she didn’t want a naked toddler running around the house as she practices not burning stuff and actually seasoning it in the kitchen. So, the compromise is that he wears the training pants I picked up for him. Last week, we started having him put his “undies” on over his pullups each day. He loved being able to pick which pair he wanted, Mickey or Avengers, so when we skipped the pullup Thursday, he wasn’t really shocked or anything. He did so well Thursday and Friday, that Saturday we took a leap and drove into town to hit up WalMart. It is a 30 minute drive there, then we spent about 45 minutes in the store, and the 30 minute drive back – NO ACCIDENTS! Wooo!!! I picked up some real undies for him while we were there. He picked out some Paw Patrol ones. So, once we get a week with no accident sin the trainers, he gets his Paw Patrol undies.

Now, we did start with some bribes to get him to use the toilet. If he peed, he got 4 M&Ms, and poop is 6. He made sure he got his M&Ms after each use of the toilet on Thursday. Friday, he wanted them half of the time. Saturday and Sunday, he asked for them twice, each time after he pooped. So, that was easy. I have the big jar of M&Ms in the bathroom on the counter, so he does see them. But he doesn’t need the incentive anymore.

This is such a huge step for Little Man on his own walk to liberty. Once he starts this, he will be able to do it all on his own (minus asking for help to get up on the toilet and to wipe his booty after poop). Independence is so crucial to teach our children, and the earlier the better. Yes, he is still quite dependent on me and the other adults in his life, but this is all him. It is also a big step in gaining responsibility. He is responsible for letting the adults nearby know that he has to use the toilet. If he doesn’t, then he has to deal with wet undies and pants, and the adult may have a mess to wipe up on the floor.

It is the same with giving him the leash for he dog. It is a step towards the responsibility of having a dog when he is older. And as he grows, his responsibilities will increase, in both number and importance. It is how he will grow as an individual. And I cannot wait to see how well he does!

Something coming up very soon, I think, in his education on life, is how to handle loss. Auntie Bailey is going to be 13 the 8th of April. She is old, and it really shows. In the past 2.5 weeks, she’s had a seizure, fallen down the stairs, and lost control of her bladder a few times. Tonight, she came my room, sniffed around on Little Man’s “Mickey Bed” (an old futon from Gramma’s we have covered with an old Mickey Mouse Club sheet from the late 80s…SO COOL!!!), made herself comfy and lay down, and proceeded to completely empty her bladder on it. We didn’t know what happened until she slid herself forward, and I saw the big wet spot that was spreading. I recalled how my dad said she peed 5 times on their nightly walk, and questioned the medicine the vet put her on 3 weeks ago.

Once we got it all cleaned up with the sheets in the wash (R.I.P Mickey Mouse Bed, the foam is completely ruined. But Nanny and I both bought the exact same mattress on Amazon to be delivered at the end of the week, so it will live on in a different form), I went to the kitchen and grabbed the bottle. A quick search online showed that severe side effects include Seizure (Check), Loss of Balance (Check), Confusion (Check), Increased Thirst and Urination (Check), among others that she has not presented (well…she may have, but she’s so old, that a lot can be attributed to her age and overall health). Papa made the call that she will not be getting the medicine tomorrow. And then the three of us had a conversation about what to do.

Auntie Bailey is on borrowed time. She’s been slowing down A LOT the past few months. And with these latest issues, the question come down to whether we put her down or not. I know that I would prefer her to pass gently in her sleep. I took the last dog to the vet to be put down, a dog that I never got along with, and the sadness and pleading in her eyes as she was walked back to the procedure room broke my heart completely. The first dog we had, we put down because the cancer was eating her. The second dog was poisoned by a neighbour, so she was put down. I’m no stranger to it. But I would, for once in my life, not have to make that call. And as I walked back to my room after we decided that my mother will keep an eye on her tomorrow, and if it’s still bad, or gets worse, she will go to the vet Tuesday, I just thought – “How do I tell Little Man when she does die?”

Our first dog, my parents took to the vet to put down while my brother and I were at CCD. We came home and she was gone. That was not the best idea they ever had, so with the second dog, they let us know the night before that she would be going, and we were able to say our goodbyes. Dog 3, well, she bit Gramma, and it was either put down Gramma or the dog… Anyway, I digress.

There is a book, I’ll Always Love You, by Hans Wilhelm, that teaches about death, specifically the loss of a dog. Dang thing brings me to tears just thinking about it! Anyway, I ordered it after having the conversation with my parents. Yes, Little Man is young, but Auntie Bailey is such an important part of his life. She has always been there for him, since he was 4 days old and we came home to my parents to stay for 2 weeks. He has been her puppy, and she his. It will arrive on Tuesday, so it may be just in time, or it may be early. Either way, I am going to start to read it to him that day, so he can learn about the process of saying goodbye to his beloved Auntie. And it is not just for him, it will help me, as well as the rest of the family. We grew up with the book (I have no idea where it is now, or else I wouldn’t have ordered it), and it was pulled out for Dog 3’s passing to read to the youngest brother (who was actually told she went to a farm in Michigan, and he believed it until only a few years ago, when the truth was spilled that she was put down). I know I will be a mess when she does go to Doggy Heaven (that reminds me, All Dogs Got o Heaven needs to be seen at some point by Little Man, but maybe once he’s a bit bigger, I recall being scared to death by a few scenes in the film), but that’s the point of having a dog – they teach you to love unconditionally, receive that love back, and then you learn how to say a final goodbye.

How is the garden? Well…I’ve not seen it since Wednesday, and it is Sunday night, so…I’m hoping everything is still alive! Before we left, I had Sugar Snap Peas, Mustard, and Turnips that had all made appearances. I’m hoping I’ve had more little green gorgeousness appear. I did make sure to water everything well, but you can only do so much. I sure didn’t want to bring everything up to the lake with me – that’s craziness! Be sure to check MeWe or Odysee this week, and I’ll share updates on how it looks.

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