Darwin Has Entered the Teenage Phase.

[Camilla and Darwin]

I knew it would happen, and I thought I had prepared. But it's more frustrating than I expected. He seriously, was an angel up to a month or two ago. Then, things he seemingly knew perfectly started to go out the window. Like, um, COME. Yeah, major problem. He now looks at me, evaluates whether or not he WANTS to come, then goes from there. You can probably guess what he usually decides. <sigh> I am desperately trying to be patient and consistent like I should be... but it's hard not to get frustrated. He has started trying to outsmart me... which is entertaining and angering all at the same time. For instance, the "down" command. He will lower an inch or two at a time, refusing to completely lay on the ground until he knows he absolutely has to. Why? Because he can. He was always extremely prompt with all of his commands before... and I pray he will be again...

Oh well. I just need to keep telling myself that this will pass, and to be consistent. The casualties of his new found naughtiness have been fairly low, unfortunately he knows how to pick the things that are hard to replace. I have comprised a list. Keep in mind, he has been super good about not chewing anything since he was four or five months old. So these items all came as a surprise to me.

- My favorite running shoes.
- A quilt my grandma made me when I was little... (quite the heartbreak I assure you.)
- One of our couch slip covers
- The battery cable for our laptop

And of course a few items from our garbage. Since a couple of them made him sick, we have been putting our garbage can in the bedroom with the door closed... oh the shame!

He did all of these really sneakily. He knows he's not allowed, so of course he wouldn't dare if we are looking. But if I get into my homework, or I'm watching a good chick flick... bam.

Oh boy, tell me this is just a stage!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Camilla ...... When you said he didn't do any of these things until a month or two ago, the first thing I did was went to your page to see where you live. In my opinion you have a classic case of the "winter blues". He is not getting the exercise he was getting when the weather was better back in the fall. I went through this last year with my girls. It got till I knew what days I had to watch for chewing because there was a major snow or something like that. My girls were not chewers except for the first winter and it was always when we were not getting enough exercise. Try to find some indoor ways to get him some exercise if you can't let him outside. I could be wrong, but this was the case with mine and there have been others here as well. And yes, it is just a stage. Mine have not been as bad this year even when they didn't get their exercise. They are much more couch potatoes. But that first winter was a challenge!