I should include a disclaimer at the beginning of this post that I do not think having a dog is as much work as having a child; I do not think that a dog replaces children; and I do not put dogs on the same level as children.
Now that that is sorted :)
Jay and I have had a number of "firsts" in our relationship since the first date and first trips. We moved into our first apartment together in Hong Kong in December 2009. It was a 600 sq ft one-bedroom apartment on Caine Road in the Mid-Levels/Expat area. It had modern decor and while it was small, it was all the space we needed. We moved into the apartment before I started working here in HK, so I had plenty of time to search for the perfect decorative items while learning about the synergies between both of our styles. I was able to coordinate with our helper to create a schedule that worked for all three of us and ensure that the apartment was always in good shape. It was a fairly easy transition.
Another first was our first shared membership. Jay joined the Kee Club in HK when he first moved here so that he and his friends had a fun place to hang out and grab a drink. Kee Club is on the 6th and 7th floors of the Yung Kee Restaurant around the corner from LKF, and was home to a number of libraries, a restaurant, bar, and great room (which became a dance club after midnight Thursday thru Saturday). During the first year we lived together in HK I would tag along on Jay's account, but he always had to be there when I went to the club. In 2011 we went in together on a joint membership so that we could both use the club and go there even if the other wasn't in town or had other plans. It was our first account where we could see each other's activity and get involved in each other's business.
But our biggest first was our first puppy: Prince. "The Artist" or "Princeling" was an adorable addition to the family, but man was he a lot of work! We are die-hard Cesar Milan fans, which means that we adopted the approach of getting to the dog before the lack of bladder control does. His theory is that if you wake up in the middle of the night to let the dog pee before the dog realizes he/she has to pee, they won't have an accident. And by never allowing them to have an accident in their crate, it becomes their sanctuary and they train themselves to hold it while you are out. This theory is good on paper, but in execution it results in cranky parents and a very neurotic dog.
On the second night we had Prince (we did not adopt this practice until the second night after a sleepless first night of barking), we put him to bed at 11 pm when we went to bed and set our alarms for 2 am and 5 am as directed by Cesar. We decided to alternate nights so that one of us could always sleep, not realizing initially that the alarm would inevitably wake up both of us.
And that was our first experience as parents. We may have let Prince win the first battle (which we refer to as the Battle of the Asian King Bed), but he did get properly trained and turned out to be a great spooner so we consider it a win win for both parties.
But our biggest first was our first puppy: Prince. "The Artist" or "Princeling" was an adorable addition to the family, but man was he a lot of work! We are die-hard Cesar Milan fans, which means that we adopted the approach of getting to the dog before the lack of bladder control does. His theory is that if you wake up in the middle of the night to let the dog pee before the dog realizes he/she has to pee, they won't have an accident. And by never allowing them to have an accident in their crate, it becomes their sanctuary and they train themselves to hold it while you are out. This theory is good on paper, but in execution it results in cranky parents and a very neurotic dog.
(Prince has a lot of toys and loves doing "surgery" on them all).
On the second night we had Prince (we did not adopt this practice until the second night after a sleepless first night of barking), we put him to bed at 11 pm when we went to bed and set our alarms for 2 am and 5 am as directed by Cesar. We decided to alternate nights so that one of us could always sleep, not realizing initially that the alarm would inevitably wake up both of us.
(Prince likes to chew on bones as big as his head. This one was gone in less than a week.)
We followed this process for over two months! We were crazy and really started losing it after a few weeks of no more than 3-4 hours of sleep per night. But we did not want to let Prince down in the middle of his training because he had not had a single accident during the night or in his crate at all, and Cesar's process was clearly working. After the first 3 weeks we changed the alarm times to 3 am and 6 am. After 6 weeks we only set it once for 4 am. And then a miracle happened.
(Prince really likes to watch Hulu TV with us).
(I wasn't kidding - he REALLY likes to watch the computer).
I went to Australia for business the first week of November and left my two boys at home to take care of each other. In the middle of the week, after two sleepless nights due to Prince crying about missing his mom, Jay capitulated and brought Prince to sleep in bed with him. He had set his alarm to take Prince out at 4 am, but somehow it did not go off. And Prince did not have an accident. Heck, Prince did not even wake up once. He slept thru the night, controlled his bladder, and Jay got the most sleep either of us had gotten in 2 months (well that's not true - I was sleeping brilliantly alone in my hotel room in Sydney that week).
(Prince and Jay also like to trade stocks together).
And that was our first experience as parents. We may have let Prince win the first battle (which we refer to as the Battle of the Asian King Bed), but he did get properly trained and turned out to be a great spooner so we consider it a win win for both parties.
AWWWWWWWWW
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