Balmy January

You see here the aftermath of Christmas. Within a week, the sturdiest stuffed dog toy we could find Sebby had been methodically dismembered (all parts still squeaky!). A month later I disposed of the last eviscerated chunks of poor beloved Skunk. It kept her fairly busy and was a lot of fun, but an empty milk jug plus a few small dog treats inside (Q's invention) is an equal amount of bang for the buck. (Those don't even last a full day, I admit.)

Our post-student teaching routine is starting to fall into place. Here you see Noodle baking with me. She follows Q's pattern of loving the measuring, the stirring and the licking of spoons, and the complete evacuation once the mixer is turned on.

I am so delighted to have Wednesdays to spend relaxed time with her again. She has picked up some excellent manipulation lingo and now directly tells me, in a voice full of pathos, "I need some attention."

Much of my own new routine involves wearing out the dog. Three days a week (when possible and I don't oversleep), I take Sebby to the unofficial dogpark in Essex. Sebby tears around with her new dog pals, and consistently loves each and every dog she meets, even if they tell her rudely that her desire to groom their teeth is going to get her face ripped off. The dogpark wears this dog out better than my new four day routine of walking and running a 2.5 loop in Chester with her before work.

Last week Q asked to join me on my Wednesday morning dogpark routine. We bargained for full school preparedness before leaving home, and it worked out beautifully. I've really missed our Wednesday morning breakfasts together, so I'm hoping we might combine the dogpark time and our Wednesday morning tradition to carve out our special time together each week.



One of the most surprising aspects of the dogpark, is Q's response to the hordes of running dogs. Not only has his mild (and unconfirmed) allergy to dog spit disappeared, Q has entirely turned around his fear of dogs. Since my job is to keep an eye on Sebby, I often turn around to find Q chatting up other dog owners and giving what one of them described as, "a running commentary" on the dog behaviors and interactions.

All things change, but as I drove to work the other day, I recognized that this is what happy feels like.

Milestones: Tooth Fairy

At Q's regular check up in early December, it was determined that Q did indeed have an adult tooth coming in. (Finally!) Unfortunately, it had found a spot behind the other teeth and was wedging up out of alignment with the other teeth. While the baby tooth was wiggly, the dentist wanted to pull it (assuming it didn't fall out in the meantime) so that the adult tooth had room to move into its appropriate spot as it was growing in.

Sitting in the dentist's office yesterday, Q asked me, "Is the Tooth Fairy real?"

"Absolutely."

He didn't quite believe me, so he wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy.



He taped it to the back of the baggie with the baby tooth. I think he was planning to hide it where only the Tooth Fairy could find it, but luckily, he forgot and left it on the table.



Note the stamp.

This morning he found her response in an envelope, along with a snowflake, and a dollar bill...




After showing Noodle, I heard him in the hallway: "This is awesome!"

Halloween

When I was a child, I felt sorry for the children in store bought costumes. They were plastic and unpersuasive. As an adult, I empathize with the parents significantly more. On the bright side, costumes for children are dramatically better made.

This year Q announced he wanted to be a ninja. Watching the student parade in Essex, I realized that 75% of all the boys wanted to be ninjas this year. Some classes had only ninjas. Nothing like having a hazardous concept (ie: black) integral to a costume.

Noodle had long claimed she wanted to be Ariel. Luckily that's an easy choice, if skimpy. Why do they make any costume without winterizing? Do they think little girls are trick or treating in preheated neighborhoods?



On facebook I posted that two nights in a row we put Q to bed in his jammies, only to discover him asleep in his ninja costume. In the morning he comes down in his jammies again. I caught him in a photo...



I wonder if he has midnight ninja adventures in his dreams.

Learning the hard way

So the World's Best Dog had her first hard lesson this week. If you run in the house, someone will get hurt.

Maybe you. The dog was in a full puppy frenzy - playing, growling, chasing, chewing, and running, sort of a pre-bedtime burst of energy. She tore into the kitchen as if she'd seen a squirrel, and - we think - hit a cabinet and knocked her kneecap out of place.

Post surgery she's doing well. We're supposed to keep her "calm" for a MONTH to help her heal. She doesn't get it.

Luckily she's so good natured that when I hold her collar and prevent her from chasing the neighbor's dog, she simply sits and watches them longingly. I'm worried that puppy training class will be problematic, but I hope training her will give us good strategies for entertaining her without straining her leg...?

Doting

So here are some more photos of our girl. She's making excellent housetraining progress. Tuesday she's scheduled to visit the vet and at the end of the month we'll start puppy training classes. No moment too soon. Jonathan is wryly concerned that Sebby is smart enough that she'll train us before we realize what is happening.



And rightly so!

Little Sebago

We have an unexpected, but much appreciated, new family member.


This is our Little Sebago. That's a big name for her, so we call her Sebby.

A not quite impulsive addition, when we picked her up on Wednesday night, she was so frightened that she tried to hide under bushes instead of walking. Once in the house, she tried to burrow under sleeping Noodle on the couch.

Since then she has calmed down and perked up. She's an excellent walker, which is going to be a big job to keep up with. I'm hoping that when she's full grown I can run with her. Or run while she walks. She's already able to walk the 1.5 mile loop.

We are repeatedly delighted with her personality. She is a lab and husky mix, and it seems she is endowed with a mellow and friendly character. Sebby loves other dogs and happily greets humans. When she seemed frightened and panicky, I inadvertently taught her to sit and wait for passing cars, which would be fine, if we never wanted to walk in an area with roads busier than our own lazy street. I take this as a sign that she will train easily, if we are consistent and disciplined.

Q, who is intimidated by dogs, is thrilled with her. He walks her on her lead, constantly cooing, "GoodgirlSebby!Goodgirl!GoodgirlSebby!Sebby!Goodgirl!No.Goodgirl!"



Here's a small video of Sebby playing with her found toy (the first toy I saw her really play with):

Home Entertainment

During the blackout following the hurricane, one of our family members grew so desperate for divine intervention, he found religion.



He is now to be referred to as the Pastafarian Penguin. If you are unfamiliar with the budding religion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its sudden popularity in Austria, please see this link.

Further investigation (or rather, I read in the newspaper) revealed that the divine intervention on the yellow house (previous hurricane post) was not a random act of grace. The tree was prepared before the hurricane to fall away from the house.

My grandmother liked to say that God helps those who help themselves.