If you have dogs that bark at visitors, the sooner Beans learns to sleep through that the better off she will be. If the house really is on fire and she needs to wake up, they'll bark a whole damn lot more. Don't create a rod for your own back (and hers) by raising a child who needs silence to sleep. Sounds like you already have a handle on that, but doesn't hurt to hear it from other places. Certainly don't allow your schedule/life be ruled by the baby. Unless you want to be a pageant mom.
As for the neighbor, she isn't allowed to rule your life either and the fact that it's bothering you enough that you need to vent says it's time for action. You are correct, after 8pm is unreasonable -baby or not, except in unusual circumstances. I wouldn't use the baby as an excuse, though, unless you're happy for her to come a-knocking the minute official baby-hood is over. The most straighforward thing is not to answer the door. Just like with a child, it is attention-seeking behaviour and any attention feeds it. Can you intall a doorbell that you can turn off after a certain time? Or get really fancy and fix one that only works during certain times. If nything is a true emergency, people will hammer on your door. You can put a note on it saying "doorbell only operational between 6am and 8pm" you don't need to say why, it's your home, not a place of business or a service you are required to provide.
Regarding her friendship overtures, could you invite her to walk with you sometime when you take beans out? that way she's not in your house and it's easier for you to brig the heart-to-heart to an end and leave it at the end of your driveway. If you trust her and want to give her a job, you could ask her to either push athe stroller or hold the dogs' leads or something.
(could you train the dogs to drag her off somewhere and slobber her to death?)
01-23-2013, 10:43 AM
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