Maybe it wasn't dance, maybe it was me

Last week when I wrote about being uninspired and slightly depressed about a dance class I took. I don't think I gave proper credit to who I took the class with. Really it wasn't about what movement, or not being excited to be in a cardio class, having some me time. I was feeling down about not having friends in the area, and not being able to make friends. I've been going to this class for months and I'm not even friends with anyone from this school on facebook.
What made me realize that I was more upset about the social aspect, than my skills was taking aclass a few days later with Laura. We've been friends for almost 10 years, and we met in a dance class. I have a very small circle of people that I know I can count on for anything. She's always there for me. From an affirmation that my outfit is cute to flying from far away to be a bridesmaid at my wedding.
The class was so much fun. We didn't talk during the class, but we both enjoyed class, and we could talk endlessly over cupcakes after class. That's a big part of friendship to me. It's sharing experiences. Sharing things about us that make us who we are. And I'm so blessed to have a friend to share dance, among other things, with.

Izzy's First Birthday Celebration - Freak Snow Storm

Well it's a good thing we didnt plan a huge party at our tiny home complete with outdoor activities. Who knew a freak snow storm would assault the northeast the day before Izzy's birthday. The storm that dumped heavy snow onto trees, already battered by a hurricane but still with leaves, that consquently came crashing down on power lines and crippling the northeast. I thank God that we had electricity, it's 10 days later and my sister's power just restored.
Our small gathering of immediate family members and very close friends, (we're talking bridesmaids/groomsmans from our wedding and the grandparents and aunts and uncle) was quiet and just right for our shy little Izzy. I was a little nervous that all eyes on her would lead to a very bashful and self-conscious 1 year old. The familiar atmosphere at home and the friendly faces certainly helped. By naptime she had her fill of food, cake and presents. I'm really glad that I didn't go overboard like I have a tendancy to do. Instead the party was just right for Izzy.

Dance, do you still love me?

I love to dance. I anxiously anticipate weddings because I can break it down in a sea of happy dancers. And I never thought te day would come where I regretted ever proclaiming my love for dance. But it happened. It happened when I was mid-box step in a cardio dance class. I looked around the room, saw how happy everyone was and my heart sank. My feet were still moving, but all the energy had been sucked out of. It's still a mystery why I lost the feeling, and I tried to get back into it, but there I was sashe-ing across the floor with limp noodle arms. I don't normally compare myself, but in that moment, everyone in the room was better than me. Sassy stay at home mom had great tempo, peppy twenty-something had ebullience, too good for everyone blondie tossed her hair like a pro. Here were all these women working it, and there I was, miserable.
I couldn't explain it. I glanced at the door imagining a grand escape, never to return. The instructor would casually remark how weird my exit was and I'd be forgotten. I pushed on, made it to the part where we all clap because it was a "great class". As I changed to street sneakers the pockets of conversations started, and I found myself with no one to talk to. I darted to my car before the tears started. I was embarrassed for not knowing how to make friends, devastated because I felt like dance had deserted me and just overwhelmed that I was about to dive back into a never-ending pile of work.
I'm not sure what all this means. I can only hope it was just one off night. I'll head back to class on Saturday for another round in the battle to meet friends while doing something for me.

First birthday countdown and no party plans

How is it possible that an event planner by day is without birthday plans for her daughter's first birthday? I want to get this party just right, but I don't want to go overboard. How do I "keep it small" without leaving someone out? For Izzy's baptism we invited 80 people! And I don't know that we could have invited less. We stuck to our aunts, uncles and cousins (Izzy's great aunts/uncles) and our very close friends. Among those left off the list were work friends and Izzy's daycare provider.
Now it's time to celebrate her 1st birthday and I really don't know where to draw the line.
If I do a small party at home, we'll end up with roughly 30 people. If I invite aunts and uncles, we'll end up around 80 again and at a hall of some sort. We might be able to afford a party like that, but I don't know that I have the time to plan a proper celebration for 80. (I'm seriously starting to worry about how much this kid's wedding is going to cost.)
So back to having the party at home. Here are some ideas I've been mulling over:

• Apple/harvest theme: clean out the garage and open it up for activities like pumpkin decorating, and bobbing for apples


• Send the dogs to camp so we don't have to worry about Willow eating the cake


• Making the cake myself to save money and make it more personal (God bless anyone who dares to try my baking)


• Tailgating theme: outdoor cooking and set up outdoor furniture, really kind of tricky for Oct. 30, but it has some potential. Just not very kid like

As you can tell, I'm really in the brainstorming stage. I should whipped through this stage 2 months ago and should have a concrete action plan now. Not good. Here's to hoping I can come up with something by this weekend.

WHY AM I NOT RUNNING?

I can't seem to put my finger on it. I know I love running. I know I love the feeling I get after a great work out. I am finding time to myself when the baby is sleeping, or when the husband is home on a Sunday afternoon. So why amd I not running?
Is building up my strength just too overwhelming of a goal? Or maybe it's that I know I want to be pregnant again so why start something I can't see through to completion? Perhaps it's the idea that spending time on me is just too selfish. Or is it everything?
When I first started running in college, I wanted to complete one lap around the track. Then I dared to dream and wanted to run four laps, one full mile. Some may scoff at running just one mile, but I remember when that was a huge challenge for me. It took me four years until I was ready to enter a race and run a 5k. I feel like I'm back at that place. I'm at square one and wanting to run one lap, one mile, one 5k. Yet, maybe this isn't square one. I have the experience of doing it all before. I know so much more about my body and what I like to do that maybe this shouldn't be as daunting. I know that I love having a GPS on to track my progress. I know what tired vs. exhausted feels like. So maybe I shouldn't think of this as being overwhelming. I just need to do it.

Mixing dogs and paddle boarding

Who wouldn't love spending time with a curious energetic 10 month old? And I get so little time with her as it is, that it's a struggle to want "me" time. But there's someone else who's competing for my attention these days.
Willow, the three year old yellow lab has been stealing anything she can get her mouth or paws on. Counter surfing, pantry sneaking, she does it all. So I took an afternoon to spend with Willow and learn something new. We went to Downunder Kayak in Wesport so we could test out a stand up paddle board.
Now, the owner did warn me that I should probably learn how to use the paddle board on my own first. If I had a little more time, I gladly would have. And now that I've done it once, I'll definitely go back to do it on my own. What a peaceful way to workout, core engaged, arms digging into the water, gliding by egrets and beautiful scenery.
What wasn't so peaceful was a 90 lbs lab trying to paw her way back onto the board every 5 minutes. It made me so happy to see Willow swimming around the docks and visiting other kayakers. Every few minutes she'd swim over to me. I'd haul her on board, paddle out where I could stand up and she'd jump off. We went through this routine about a dozen times before I called it quits. It was more about her getting too tired to swim, then me not wanting to haul her on board.
Check out the video to see what I'm talking about.

Dance & Fitness Class Schedule - Westport - Studio 44 Dance & Fitness

Dance & Fitness Class Schedule - Westport - Studio 44 Dance & Fitness

I'm so happy to have found a new dance home. It's been 4 years since I've danced with such beautiful dancers and great teachers. There aren't many things that can get me to spend time away from Izzy, but this is great for me time.

My morning

Not that it was out of the ordinary, but I'm frustrated just enough to write about it. Hum flight of the bumblebee in your head while you read for dramatic effect.
4:20 a.m. Wake up to a crying child for the second time. Nurse her until she is quiet and can fall back to sleep.
4:45 a.m. Realize that the baby is not planning to fall asleep. Kick the dog out of bed and let the baby play between me and the hubs in an effort to get a few more Zs.
6:30 a.m Wake up later than planned next to the sleeping baby who looks too comfortable to be disturbed.
6:45 a.m. Start to pump. Baby wakes up, the hubs changes her diaper and gets her dressed for daycare.
7:15 a.m. Run through the shower while the baby cries in the pack & play.
7:45 a.m. Baby's in the car seat while I pack her lunch. Drop a jar of baby food on the tile floor that shatters. Grab the dogs rush them outside. Struggle with Willow to get her to stay outside. Run back to the kitchen clean the mess of glass and fruit gook. Vaccuum.
7:55 a.m. Dart out of the house to get Izzy to daycare.
8:10 a.m. Head back to the train station. Catch the local just so I can sit down for a bit.
8:55 a.m. Glad I took the local because it got in before the express. Even more glad that I'll make my 9 a.m. meeting in time.
9:00 a.m. Get email that meeting is canceled.

Really?

Value the win

Shame on me for spending so much time focusing on what to change next. Identifying the problems is helpful, but it shouldn't take up all my time. So it's time to celebrate the successes. There are two big things that come to mind. First, I got a promotion! I have been giving my job everything I've got for the past few years and it has paid off! I'm now a manager and I feel like I've found new confidence in my abilities. Of course it comes with challenges, but thats for another post. For now I'd like to pause and reflect on how rewarding it is. I finally feel like I'm on the same level with my colleagues, friends, even my husband.
The second success that I'd like to give myself a little credit for, I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I've been feeling better about myself, but it really stood out to me today when I put on one of my size 6 dresses and there was so much fabric puffed put over my smaller curves. I'd like to lose another 10lbs, but I'm really happy to be where I'm at 8 months after giving birth.

Finding mom friends

Being one of the older gals in my circles of friends, I've always lead the way on new adventures. I was the first one to get my license (and a car), first one to get married, and now first one to have a baby. All very incredible milestones and I was very much supported by some incredible people. But it's not always easy doing things first. I didn't have a friend to provide wisdom and guidance when I was failing to figure out a challenge. And now that I'm a new mom, I really could use the help.
I've been struggling to make mom friends, partly due to the fact that I love my friends and feel like I'm "cheating" on them in finding a new community. Another hinderance is my damn timidness. That's right, I'm down right shy. Put me in a big group and my voice gets lost in the chorus.
Case in point - I joined Mommy's Time Yoga, a yoga class for new moms and their babies. The first class was fantastic, my little Izzy slept for most of it, but it was a small group and I felt great speaking out when Linda - our yoga leader and pseudo den mother for pregnant women in our area - would ask the group questions. Not only did I participate, but I enjoyed it. I joyfully went to the next group class hoping for the same experience but was so turned off because the room was clogged with outgoing personalities. They're all wonderful people, but I couldn't compete. I dragged myself to the next one hoping to give it one more shot. This time I decided I would make every effort to make connections. And I did! One of the moms who I took prenatal yoga classes with sat right next to me. It was the first time I got to me her beautiful little girl. Things couldn't have gone better, and I even made facebook friends with a few of the women. Very encouraging.
So now I have to keep the ball rolling. Linda suggested we get a stroller club together. What a great idea, the sun is finally shining and what better way to spend a morning than walking with a group of women and their babies. It's times like these that I'm very thankful for facebook.

Not feeling so hot

No, I'm not sick. I just don't feel . . . attractive. I'm sure it's normal to feel this way after having a baby. But it would be out of character for me to be O.K. with that excuse. It's been almost 6 months since Izzy was born, and I'm really starting to hate my mushy middle, my clothes still don't fit and I'm dreading donning a bathing suit.
I've always been able to battle the weight by hitting up the gym, or running more. But now there's two new obstacles; 1) caring for Izzy and 2) breast feeding. Caring for Izzy is one of the highlights of my day after fighting through work projects. I want to spend every moment with her. Watching her giggle at Willow, seeing her slurp her cereal. I know pushing her in a stroller would count as exercise, but it doesn't yield the same quality time as tickling her tummy and dancing like a fool for her laughter does. And breast feeding is amazing and I'm so fortunate to be able to do it while working like a madwoman. But I'm ALWAYS hungry, and I'm fearful that if I don't eat enough my supply will deplete.
So how do I get my body back now? I suppose I have to start with the obvious. Eliminate the not-so-healthy but oh-so-yummy things from my diet. I tend to reward myself with treats (kind of like Willow) when I'm at work. It's as if having an oreo at 3pm somehow made the time spent away from Izzy bearable. Then there is the drinking on the weekend. No cause for alarm, I'm talking about one drink a night. But it's like watching your budget. If I saved $5 on every grocery trip for a month, I could buy a cute spring blouse. Saving 100 calories each weekend night (no beer) could lead to that blouse being a size small instead of a medium.
And now the part that I'm not sure of; working out. When will I find the time? How much can I do without it leading to eating more to keep up with the breastfeeding? I know 5:30 a.m. would work since it's just after Izzy's morning feeding, but how will I have enough energy to stay up, work out, and get through the rest of the day? And then what happens if I do too much and need to consume more calories to balance it out?
So here goes nothing. Today, I'm going to make three "resolutions."
1) No more sugary snacks.
2) No more alcohol, I did it for 9 months, shouldn't be that hard to do it for 1 month.
3) Stay up after Izzy's morning feeding and work out.
Hopefully commiting them to writing will somehow make me more accountable.

Izzy ate solids!

Or at least I think she did. With the amount of creamy cereal spewing out of that cute little mouth, I doubt any made it's way to her belly. But watching her experience a spoon with food on it was quite the spectacle. We have video, and my husband and I share some giggles, but it was hard to tell if she really loved it.
First a complaint. I don't love the Graco highchair we have for her. It's difficult to set up with one hand. And if you're a parent, you know that 80% of the time, you only get to use one.
Once we got her strapped in we put a new bib on her. (The front of it reads "My mom is hotter than your mom," courtesy of my sister Sarah.) I had been putting her in the highchair for a few minutes at a time each day for the past week. I didn't want the whole experience to be a shock. She relaxed after a minute or two and I pulled out the plastic bowl and spoon. Her eyebrows went up and mouth opened super wide in excitement. She even did her little excited dance, her dance reminds me of Willow's happy dance where her tail wags her whole body.
Since the cereal was mixed with breastmilk it really didn't taste all that different to her. It was more of a texture thing combined with a new untensil. She had to figure out how to get the food down without the aid of a bottle. And she didn't get much. After about 10 minutes of experiencing the novelty of the spoon she started to get really frustrated. I would too if I was tasting something great, but started to have hunger pains.
Even though we started the process before it was mealtime we could tell she was super hungry. So we quickly wiped the excess cereal from her nose, cheese, and forehead and I took her out of the chair to feed her the normal way.
It was pretty amazing to see her experience a new way to eat. I can't wait to try out different foods and capture each smirk and spittle.

The Ultimate Baby Authority

Who is the ultimate baby authority? Is it my pediatrician? My mom? A crazy relative who just happened to pop out three children? Lately it seems like everyone has not just an opinion but the opinion on raising Izzy. Perhaps I've been spared the overwhelming onslaught of critiques and caustic questioning for the first five months of Izzy's life. But lately I've been hearing a whole lot of "You did what?!" or "That's not the way to do it." Or maybe it didn't dawn on me that so many people were giving their 2 cents (shouldn't I be rich by now?) It finally struck me this weekend that there were one too many people giving me direction on how to raise the little baby who I carried for 9 months.
Family and friends, many of them mothers, had gathered for my sister's baby shower. By no means am I a selfish mommy, I liberally pass Izzy to almost anyone. What I didn't expect was for people to snatch her, mid-diaper change no less. At one time I could anticipate the "friendly suggestions" on how to improve my diaper changing techniques. But I had no idea that fending off snatchers was a full contact sport. Too bad I left my helmet at home. "This is how you do it," started one mom as she pushed me aside to demonstrate. Really? After 5 months you don't think I figured this out? At one point I just had to give in, I was there to throw a shower for my sister. After two hours of watching Izzy being passed like liquor stolen from a locked cabinet amongst teenagers, I finally got her back. Maybe it was in my head, but I swear she glared at me until her next nap.
We had another family event on Sunday and this time Izzy was meeting some of my aunts and uncles that she never met before. I dodged the occasional suggestion and danced around topics I didn't want to discuss until it was bottle time. I found a relatively quiet spot and sat with Izzy while she tried to fill up on the pumped liquid gold. Within seconds a crowd formed and I hoped Izzy would chug the bottle so we could avoid critique. A family member, who shall remain nameless, thought it would be a good idea to tickle Izzy's defensless little feet. At first I quietly urged the tormentor to stop. As the attact raged on, another family member began to chide me that it was time to burp Izzy. Thinking that her feet would be out of reach while I burped her, I strategically threw Izzy onto my shoulder and gently patted away. A quiet little burp escaped and I turned her around to give her more of the bottle. And just as she turned she spewed milk and saliva everywhere. This wasn't just some little spit up, this was projectile cream, and sent in the direction of the tickler. With eyes that could kill I glared at the tickler, words were not needed. The tickler quickly made her escape. As she escaped my chiding aunt quickly accused me of not burping her soon enough. Although, in the same breath she also accused the tickler saying that tickle is torture to babies.
That's just a snipet from this past weekend. I know I need to not take things so personal, but when the "guidance" is coming from all directions it's hard not to feel inadequate. I need to work on my confidence as a mother.

Gearing up for solids

Enough talk! It's time to introduce solids to Izzy. I haven't made too big of a deal out of it to friends and family because I don't want to deal with the onslaught of advice that comes with the announcement. Instead I've made the following purchases that I hope will aid the big introduction:


• First Meals by Annabel Karmel

• Baby Food Freezer Trays

These are worthy of adding to your registry, which I didn't think of a year ago. I read through the recipes, did the shopping, own the equipment, now onto the cooking.
The recipes seemed simple enough. Get some fresh veggies or fruit and steam them. Then put your freshie (fresh fruit or veggie) and a little of the water used to steam your chosen freshie into a blender, or food processor, or one of the blenders marketed just for making baby food, and hit the button. (Or crank a food mill if you have the time.) But there's a little more to it.
Should we go the organic route?
Words like pesticides and antibiotics send shivers down my spine. Now that I think about those words in relation to my baby I get nauseous. So you can imagine that organics were an obvious choice for us. I strongly believe that all those additives have a negative impact on one's health. And bonus! I get to shop at whole foods without feeling like a yuppy because I’m doing it for Izzy.
What freshies should we choose for Izzy first?
We will heed the advice of our pediatrician (and every book I read) and go with rice cereal. I ordered Happy Bellies brown rice for her first solids. But after she gets used to the cereal we’ll introduce her to one type of freshie every couple days. On our adventure to whole foods, I bought carrots, broccoli, pears and apples. Seemed like enough variety to get things started. I knew I would be freezing most of these.
After rounding up the supplies, equipment and food, I spend some time running my own cooking show for Izzy. She sat in her highchair and looked on as I peeled and chopped everything up. As each item steamed to perfection, I would narrate the process to Izzy. Fortunately it doesn’t take long for freshies to cook or else we would have had one bored little baby.
All that was left to do was to freeze the excess. I poured the mush into the freezer trays and closed the lids tightly. The freezer trays and containers hold 1 to 2 oz. of food, so she’ll have food for the next month.
I just hope Izzy likes broccoli, or I’ll be making a broccoli mush soup for Mommy and Daddy.

Sleepy nights and no solids

Another week has passed, and I did not give Izzy solid food, and for very good reasons. She has been sleeping through the night, and she has leveled off at 4.5 oz bottles 5 times a day, a rate that I can keep up with.
But I couldn't resist getting the high chair ready. We went with the Gracco Contempo and it was super simple to set up. I wish the directions told me whether or not my child is ready for the high chair, but I guess that's another judgement call I have to make. I'm thinking of trying her out in it for a few minutes at a time until she is used to it.
And Izzy isn't the only one who needs to get used to the high chair. Lovable nosey Willow will need her own time inspecting the new piece of furniture. I'm comforted that the chair has several levels and I can put the baby at the highest level, a.k.a. out of Willow's reach level. I just hope this chair is sturdy enough to handle a couple of bumps from the dog. The key here is making sure Willow doesn't push the thing over. Don't worry, I'm very experienced in body blocking the dog before she bulldozes something (or someone) over.
After both of my girls are comfortable with the chair, I fully expect Izzy to be tossing food over the side for Willow's benefit. And really, we all win, Izzy gets to experience food. Willow gets to slurp up after the spills, and cleaning time will be minimal for me.

Izzy rolled!

My little girl has made her first huge move to becoming mobile. Gramma and Grampa caught it on camera, and she repeated it for us later. Izzy, no longer amused with the scenery, manged to go from her tummy to her back. The night before the big event I tried to guide her from her tummy to her back. She has never been a fan of tummy time, and I knew her first roll would be to get out of tummy time. I just hoped she would do it for Joe and I first. Too bad that she's already tired after a long day by the time we get to be with her.
Now the only trouble will be keeping her on her tummy for tummy time, and getting her to roll from her back to her tummy. I'm going to start by trying to follow her favorite toy. We'll see how it goes.

Introducing Solids to Little Izzy

I find myself having the same argument with my mother any time I tell her Izzy didn't sleep through the night. Her side, "Give her cereal, it will make her tummy full and she'll sleep longer." My opposition, "She's not mentally ready for it."
After repeating this same argument over and over, and fruitlessly hoping my mother will understand, I'm giving in. It is time for Izzy to try solids. First I must tell you why. She's not sleeping through the night. That is as close as I'll come to admitting my mother may be right. To further explain, she's eating more and more breastmilk every day. In two weeks she has gone from 4 oz. at each feeding to 5 oz. I found it alarming that she chugged a bottle at 10 p.m. after already eating at 6p.m. and 8p.m. Usually she goes three hours in between. So she is showing she needs more substanence, and it doesn't necessarily mean she needs solids to keep up. Perhaps I should just pump more? Or break into the frozen blocks of breastmilk that I have stored since December. And this may not be a valid reason to start solids, but I don't want to supplement with formula.
And who knows, maybe she is mentally ready, but am I? My secret is excuse is that I'm not ready to do the work that goes with introducing solids. It seems challenging, and right now giving her a bottle, or breastfeeding is so simple.
According to her pediatrician, introducing solids should be fun. I should only try it out when she's in a good mood. So besides timing it right, and having Joe home for the first spoonful to the mouth, she's got to be happy about it. Shouldn't be too hard, she's generally a very happy little girl. But I know the first time Joe is home and ready to spectate, she'll inevitably be soured on something. Gas, teething pains, something.
In a few days, I hope to report back that Izzy made the funniest face when we gave her solids for the first time. But just in case that post doesn't happen for a while, please know that it's because the universe wasn't ready to cooperate.

Finally Running Again

I'm still struggling to find a theme for this blog. There are two factors in creating my posts: 1) Do I have time to post. 2) Do I have content that might be interesting. And not necessarily in that order. Some days I have the best topic to blog about. In my head I've written the most witty entertaining paragraphs, but then I have no time to get them from my head to the screen. Other days I find myself sitting in front of the computer, trying to force my fingers to string interesting sentences together. All the while, I have not clearly defined what the purpose of this blog is. And so it will be for another day.
Today I choose to write about how I am running again. My doctor cleared me for exercise in early December, but I didn't really have the opportunity to run until recently. I was taking Willow for daily walks and trying to incorporate running. With no training plan in place, it was more like I was testing the waters, seeing just how much my hips could handle. Turns out it wasn't just my hips that ached after our walks. My entire core burned. What a great feeling it was.
This past week I've discovered that I can do more on the treadmill too. I've been trying to do some form of exercise every day, and today was the best day so far. I ran 3 miles in 34 minutes. That is the best time since January of last year. Two weeks ago it took 45 minutes just to get to 3 miles. Hopefully this trend will continue.
Since it has been so long since I've been running, I'm pretty sure there is zero muscle memory for the pace that I was previously at. My theory is that if I start training at a faster pace now, I will be able to pick up my speed overall. So instead of running at a comfortable 10 min mile pace, I'm only letting myself run 8:30 min miles or faster. If I need to slow down, I walk. Each day I increase the amount of time I run at 8:30. So we'll see how this goes.
AND, I weighed myself today. Only 5 more lbs till I'm at pre-baby weight. Ideally I'd like to lose another 10 so I can be at wedding weight.

Curbing the fat while still treating your dog

The past two years of Willow's puppyhood has taught me several things; don't leave electronics within her reach, always have a tight grip on the leash in squirrel infested territory, and exercising her includes walking when it's pitch black out and below freezing.
Another fun lesson I've become well-versed in is weight management. My food obsessed lab packs on the pounds like a college kid being introduced to alcohol and the all-you-can-eat buffet that is a meal plan. At one year old Willow tipped the scales at 80 lb. Her frame was smaller than our 70 lb. lab and she had 10 lbs on him, so I started her on a special weight control kibble.
After months of balancing diet/exercise and treats we had her at a healthy 70 lb. Then came baby. A combination of shorter walks and a dramatic increase in treats caused Willow to weigh in at 84 lb. That was a 14 lb weight gain from her lowest weight! I tried to explain the situation to the vet, but clearly there was no excuse. "Get her under control before the baby starts feeding her treats," was her response. The "healthy" treats she recommended were already on Willow's yummy list, but I had to find a time-consuming way to incorporate them. We didn't give Willow treats just to make her happy, they were given to her to entertain her. The number one treat was the marrow bone stuffed with peanut butter. Knowing how peanut butter can make me chunky, if eaten in large amounts, I decided to cut back on them. Here are the treats that kept Willow entertained without the pound producing side effects.
1) Baby carrot sticks stuffed in a marrow bone. Lodging the carrots in the bone in a way she would have to work to get them out was tricky. The other downside was that carrots just weren't as enticing as peanut butter. Once I added the slightest dab of peanut butter on the carrots in the bone it turned into 30 minutes of carrot-licking fun.
2) Kong or bone stuffed with low fat yogurt (make sure there aren't chemicals in the yogurt I prefer Stonyfield) and frozen. Sure it's messy and time consuming to put together, but the reward of being able to sit on the couch while the dog entertains herself is worth it.
3) Ball with one single treat it. The treat was large enough that Willow couldn't get it out. She pushed it around the house for nearly an hour, trying to figure out how to get the scrumptious prize. When she called it quits, I felt bad for how hard she worked and moved the treat far enough out of the ball so that she could grab it herself. You have to make sure there is a reward for all the work or they won't put in the effort a second time around.
It works to my advantage that Willow likes carrots, yogurt and cucumbers. I can even slice up the carrot or cucumber and substitute some of her dinner with them. She's still eating enough to fill her up and the carrots take longer for her to chew. It's all about the rate of consumption when it comes to food and treats. If she doesn't have to work for it, or if it won't entertain her, she's not getting it.