Puppy Romance

A and I carpool to and from work. This works out well because we work about 7 blocks from each other, work pays for parking and best of all, it gives us almost 2 more hours together a day. (DC traffic is all they promise it to be - we only live 8 miles from work but it takes about an hour door to door.)

Extra time we have together is also extra time to listen to the radio. We have a lousy stereo thanks to A's bad luck suffering two break ins while in business school. We have been saying for two years we'll get a new car, so we've never bothered to upgrade the stereo to anything other than a radio and tape deck.

The mornings are pretty basic. We mainly listen to Mike and Mike on ESPNRadio. It makes both of us happy - they talk about sports intelligently but without being juvenile, chauvinistic or generally annoying. (During the football season, Mondays mean the Joe Theismann show and Fridays were Vinnie Cerrato, who knows now.) During commercials we'll flip over to NPR to catch some news.

The afternoons pose more of a problem. A works and parks the car north of my office, so he gets the car first and drives the 6 blocks south to pick me up. This means he gets to choose the radio station. Nine times out of ten this means he is listening to LaVar and Dukes**. This is a local sports radio show that is like every skit SNL has written about sports radio. It's awful. There is another sports show A flips to sometimes, but I hate it even more than I hate LaVar's show. In a compromise, we have started to listen to more Top 40 radio. Yes, we know it's not great music, but a little Miley Cyrus is what you need at the end of a long day.

**I did not know this is what LaVar and Dukes looked like until now. It certainly explains a few things.

Top 40 radio stations being what they are (HOT 99.5 in our case) we hear the same 7 songs every day. After a while the lyrics grow on you and that is when our commuting favorite game was born - rewriting the lyrics of Top 40 songs involving our dog, Calhoun. Some re-writes are basic - from "Dam, you a sexy bitch" to "Cal's a good lookin' puppy". (I didn't say our top 40 song choices were high brow.) Challenged after changing this one lyric, A took it upon himself to showcase his talents, and thus Puppy Romance was born, loosely based on Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.

We've never written down the lyrics, so its never the same (though the game is played EVERY DAY because we hear Bad Romance at least once a commute) but there are some general themes. Sometimes it's "caught in a puppy romance," other times it's "caught in a Calhoun romance." Often it involves a description of his brown eyes and floppy ears, sometimes Bailey makes a cameo.

I've included some of our favorite lyrics for you, so next time you are sitting in your 45th min of traffic and Bad Romance comes on the radio you too can sing along with Puppy Romance. (And yes, we know that all of the lyrics don't make sense, but have you ever really listened to Bad Romance's lyrics??)

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh!

Caught in a puppy romance

Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah-ah!Roma-roma-mamaa!

Ga-ga-ooh-la-la!

Want your chewies!

Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah-ah!Roma-roma-mamaa!

Ga-ga-ooh-la-la!

I want your chewies

I want your cruncies I want your squeakies I want your everything As long as it's kitty

I want your love(Love-love-love I want your chewies)

I want your love and I want your chewies You and me could write a Cal romance

(Oh-oh-oh--oh-oooh!)

I want your love and All your kitty crunchies You and me could write a Cal romance

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh! A puppy romance

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh! Caught in a puppy romance

I have brown eyes and I have floppy ears

You and me could write a Cal romance

(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!)

I have brown eyes and I have floppy ears

Caught in a puppy romance

(A also instructs me to tell you that the French part is to be sung making up french words and using the words "Cal" and "puppy" in a French accent)

Evening Routines

I have been told that once you have children you must develop evening routines. I guess this has to do with consistency for the child, as well as organization for the parents. Even though we only have fur-children at the moment, I think we have a pretty good evening routine going. A typical evening in the Exnicios house goes something like this.

9:45pm - finish watching something on Tivo. I announce we should probably start getting ready for bed. A agrees. Flips television to ESPN or TBS.

10:15pm - I announce that if we are just going to watch basketball, we should get ready for bed and do it there. A agrees and shuts off the tv, picks up Calhoun to bring into bed. I suggest the dog should probably go out one more time, but since I'm already in my pjs, A should probably do it. We discuss how much water the dog has had. A agrees the dog should go out. I begin to speak for the dog, now protesting how much he does not want to go out. A points out that I can't argue both sides - insisting he take the dog out and then stating the dog does not want to go out. I point out that its not me, it's Cal who is saying he doesn't want to go out. A sighs.

10:25pm - A takes Cal out. I begin to close up for the night - pulling down shades, shutting windows, turning off lights. A returns and announces that he has locked the door. Places dog on the foot of the bed and goes to brush his teeth.

10:35pm - A is in bed watching basketball or some awful 1980s movie. I ask if the door is locked. A insists that not only is the door locked, he has already told me it is. I go to the door to double check this. A sighs. I climb into bed.

10:37pm - I get out of bed realizing I forgot to take my vitamins. Cal jumps off the bed, hoping for a snack.

10:40pm - Cal, A and I all settled in bed. We begin to debate the merits of whatever A is watching. Arguments included "This is the stupidest movie of all time, why are you leaving it on?", "I never get to choose what we watch in bed", "You don't even like these teams", or "We've already seen this episode of House Hunters."

10:50pm - I protest that whatever A has changed the channel to is worse than what was on originally. B-cat jumps into bed. Cal, previously sound asleep in a puppy ball at the foot of the bed, picks up his head and is on full alert.

10:51pm - B-cat calmly walks to the foot of the bed and sits and stares at the dog. Cal begins to cry. (She used to smack him in the face with a paw, but I think she's done it enough now that she's realized she can just sit there and stare at him and it freaks him out more. Its like Slapsgiving.)

10:52pm - I pick up the cat and move her to the head of the bed. Calhoun insists he too must now be at the head of the bed. I hold the cat above my head while he moves up between us and tries to get under the covers. A tries to convince Cal that all four legs must be off the covers before we can lift them up for him to crawl under them.

10:53pm - Cal is under the covers and begins spinning in a circle. Repeats about 20 times. Finally lays down in between A's legs with his head on A's thigh. A sighs. I put the cat back on the bed. She walks on top of covers and sits directly on top of the dog.

10:54pm - I pick B-cat back up and bring her to the head of the bed. I give one final protest as to what is on the television and then roll over. Having announced I am going to sleep, A now offers me the remote. At this point I have removed my glasses and can no longer tell who is sharing the bed with me. B-cat leaves the bedroom.

10:57pm - I roll over and talk to whoever is watching basketball in the bed next to me about something I've just remembered we must do tomorrow and state we should probably get up super early to get it accomplished. A agrees and insists that he will only watch 2 more minutes of television.

11:22pm - A shuts off the television.

11:23pm - B-cat begins sprinting around the apartment at full speed, screaming as only a Siamese cat can do. Cal wakes up, barks, blindly tries to get out from under the covers. Eventually succeeds and jumps off the bed to chase the cat. A sighs.

11:25pm - A gets the dog and brings him back to bed. Routine from 10:52-10:53 repeats.

11:35pm - I ask A if he is sure he's locked the door.

Taking Calhoun Out to the Ball Game

Today was Calhoun's first ball game. It was Pups at the Park at the Washington Nationals. We took Cal with his DC Beagle Meet Up friends and had an amazing time. Calhoun was on the jumbo tron FOUR times, including singing the seventh inning stretch with his dad. The Nats even pulled out a win for Calhoun. He is currently too sleepy from all his excitement to comment, but I think if he had the energy he'd ask when can we go back. Thanks to the DC Beagles and the Nationals for putting on such a great event! There is a video of Calhoun's first game below. Photos can be found on our photo share site - which is linked here or through our blog page.