Puppies & babies

Before J arrived, we used to draw so many parallels between Coco and our non-existent baby. Of course, we never shared these with anyone because our friends with children (and no dogs) would be horrified that we were comparing babies to puppies. But now that we have both puppy (Coco & Jasper) and baby, I'd like to share some of the comparisons we used to make and what we know now.

Both puppies and babies get up in the middle of the night.

No sleep depravation with puppy. If any, only lasts up to 3 months.

That's because puppies can hold it for as many hours as their age plus one. A 2-month old puppy can hold it for three hours. FYI, we started with training pads before house-breaking Coco so we never had to get up in the middle of the night to take her out. But with Jasper, we house-breaking so that last night, the husband took him out at midnight and 4 am. Which of course upset Coco - where are you taking him? Can I go? I then got up at 6 am to take both dogs out. Luckily, this won't last too long.

Lots of sleep depravation with baby. Lasted 10 months for us. We could have been stricter and maybe it would have lasted only 6 months.

Babies will get up every 1-3 hours during the night, depending on the baby. Lucky for us, J was on the 3 to 4-hour schedule. But each waking was not just for feeding but for changing a diaper and repeatedly trying to get him to fall back asleep (i.e., rocking, swaddling, placing in crib, repeat until successful). In total, the whole routine could take 30-60 min, which meant little quality sleep.

Both puppies and babies need to be sleep-trained.

Puppies can adjust to sleeping by themselves within days.

Until Coco was house-broken, she spent the night alone in the kitchen at night. As soon as we went upstairs, she would yelp at the top of her lungs for 15-30 min. It was pretty heart-breaking. Oftentimes, a "quiet" from us helped ease her fears. She stopped yelping at us in a few days. With Jasper, we let him sleep in the crate and in our bedroom. It cuts down on the yelping. But when we left him in the kitchen this morning while we got ready, he yelped a lot. Hopefully, he gets used to it.

Babies need days, weeks, but for us, a month.

We eased into letting J "cry it out" around 6 months when he got his own bedroom here in Maryland. We let him "cry it out" at naptime and at bedtime. Some days were harder than others. I would say that he didn't need to rocked or checked-up on a second time at 7 months. These days, he'd rather you just put him in his crib so that he can get into his routine - remove the two toys from the crib, face the window, get on tummy.

Never give a puppy or baby playthings that you don't want them chewing/breaking/etc.

It's easy to refuse your puppy [insert plaything here].

Our trainer said never to give our puppy an old shoe or sock to play with because then she'd chew our relatively new shoes or socks. Coco was only ever allowed to play with her toys. Even now, she knows that any toys on the playmat are J's. But if they're on the hardwood floors, she'll go to town on them. It's amazing she knows the difference. We now need to teach Jasper the difference.

We'll do almost anything to distract/occupy J.

Cell-phone, ok. Even though he keeps dialing my SIL and might one day call 911 or China.

Remote control, ok. Even though he keeps changing the channel and shutting the TV off.

Bottle of lotion, ok. Even though the contents could leak out resulting in a call to the poison control hotline (I know, horrible!).

Both puppies and babies need a lot of attention.

Puppies do while they're being house-broken and during their chewing phase.

These were the two biggest challenges. I would say around 7-9 months, she was able to be left alone and have the run of the house with no incident. Besides walks 4 times a day, grooming, and training/playing, she doesn't require much else. She actually deserves more attention than we currently give her. She's so understanding. We hope she enjoys Jasper's company. I hope when I go home today the kitchen won't be completed chewed apart by Jasper.

We can't take our eyes of J for a split-second…and he isn't even walking yet!

So I have stepped out of the room here and there but was always within ear shot. And I have left him alone to eat in his high chair while I got something from the kitchen. But usually, we are stuck together like glue.

I'm glad to be parents to Jacob, Coco, and now, Jasper. They teach me many lessons in their individual ways.