Exercise and Boyfriends

Staying in shape and dating go hand in hand. So it's no surprise that just days after Thing 1 joined the gym, she got her first boyfriend. Alpha Female had been counting down the days until Thing 2 would turn six weeks old, because this would mean that she was old enough to use the daycare at the gym, and Alpha Female could exercise and try to loose her Jelly Belly. So as soon as Thing 2 was old enough, the Alphas and the Things joined the gym. Alpha Female has been taking the Things to the gym all week. Thing 1 seems to love the experience. One day she played tea party with the teacher. One day she wandered around and talked to other toddlers. One day she played on the slide. And one day she met her boyfriend. The teachers told Alpha Female that they hit it off right away. It seems that they both spoke the same language (one that neither I nor the Alphas understand) and found each other quite hysterical. They would talk to each other and then laugh and laugh. Thing 1 liked him so much that she decided she needed to start chasing him around and hugging him. It sounds like his disposition is like mine and he could have done with less hugging. But, with him and with me, Thing 1 disregards our wishes and hugs away. When Alpha Female came in to pick up the Things, she saw Thing 1 tackle her boyfriend to the ground with a hug. Thing 1 then cried and reached for him when Alpha Female told her it was time to go. Maybe they'll have a second date next week. Thing 2 also likes going to the gym. She thinks it's another good place to nap. I ask you, is there ever a bad place to nap?

Smiles

Thing 2 is all smiles. Well, not really ALL smiles. There is still a lot of crying too. Enough crying that Thing 1 knows that dogs say, "woof, woof," cats say, "meow" and she is learning that babies say, "waaaa!" Even though it's not all smiles, the smiles are nice when they happen. I wish that I could learn how to smile. I sometimes wonder what Thing 2 is smiling about. Is she thinking about how much fun it is when Thing 1 pushes her crazily in her swing? Is she thinking how nice it is to be relaxed and not being knocked around by Thing 1 in her swing? Maybe she's dreaming about how nice it would be to have an unlimited supply of cookies. That's what I dream about.

My Human Great-Grandmother

This week my family said goodbye to my human great-grandmother. We loved her very much. She was a special person and a great friend to us dogs. She had a special place in her heart for Great Danes, but I think she liked us smaller dogs too. She would always bring treats to my human grandparents' house for my doggie uncles and treats for the humans too (Alpha Female could always find Life Savers in her purse). When Alpha Female was just a little girl, she would ride her bike to her grandmother's house just so she could eat Twix and drink mint iced tea that her grandmother always kept in the refrigerator.

My human great-grandmother was such a dog lover, that she would let the neighbor dog come inside and eat leftovers straight off of the humans' plates. I hear that the neighbor dog would lick the plate totally clean. My human great-grandmother once told Alpha Female that she let the dog lick the plate clean because then she wouldn't have to wash the dishes. I think she was just kidding, but you never know.

Happy Valentine's Day

I cannot believe how many outfits each of the Things has for Valentine's Day! They have more clothes for just this one day than either of the Alphas have in their entire wardrobes. Thank goodness Alpha Female gave up trying to dress me. The Things are much cuter dressed for the holiday than I would be. I'm afraid she'd have me in a diaper with a bow slung over my shoulder so I could shoot arrows at Alpha Male.


Wouldn't you be a little freaked out if this monkey was hugging you?


Thing 2 loves her daddy, but she doesn't seem very happy about it.


Why doesn't Thing 2 have any "I love Mommy" clothes? And, come to think of it, why does Thing 1 only say, "Daddy" and not "Mommy?"


Thing 1 was actually saying , "Cheeeeese" when this picture was taken.


Her shirt says, "Love Bug," but she looks like "Princess Love Bug" to me.


It doesn't take a dog as smart as me to figure out that math, even a cat could do it!


We all send our love and Valentine's Day wishes. I send out big wet, slobbery kisses to all my friends. (Thing 1 taught me how to give good slobbery kisses.)

The Moment We've Been Waiting For

She did it! Thing 2 finally did it! She slept all night long. The Alphas are disproportionately excited about this development. You'd think they won the lottery or something, but all that happened was Thing 2 went to bed around 10 o'clock last night and didn't get up until just after 7 o'clock this morning. The Alphas think she is such a good baby, but I never get any cookies just for sleeping, and I can sleep a lot more than either of the Things!

Chocolate, Chocolate Everywhere

Obviously, this is a picture of what it would look like if my whole family turned into M&M's while we were vacationing in the Caribbean.


I wonder what we would look like if we turned into M&M elves that could sing and dance?

Everybody Wants More of the Dog

Have you ever wondered what I would look like if I were a blue M&M employed as a college professor to study astronomy in the desert? I know I have.


I'm glad to see that I wouldn't lose my mustache or my eyebrows.

Design Modification

I was trying to tell myself that I hadn't posted for a while because nothing new has been happening in our house recently, but that's not true. With the two Things, there will always be something new happening. The problem is that most of the new stuff involves gross stuff or boring stuff. I don't want to drone on and on about how Thing 1 likes to play with my poo or about how Thing 2 hardly ever poo's. Likewise, I don't want to write a detailed account of how much, or little, Thing 2 is sleeping. Unfortunately, these are the kinds of things that have been filling my thoughts for the past week. I think I need to get a hobby.

Wait a minute, I do have a hobby. I like to blog! And I have changed the layout of my blog a little bit this past week. Most notably, I added a slide show of pictures of my family. It is on the top right hand side of my blog page. You can just watch the slide show and enjoy the pictures as they are displayed or you can click on the slide show and go to a website maintained by Alpha Male that contains more albums and pictures of my family.

I'd also like to add that above my handsome picture is a link to send me email. I'm just mentioning that this is there because I've never gotten any email from anybody ever...not ever.

Escape Route

Thing 1 seems to have hit another growth spurt in her communication abilities. In fact, she said her first sentence a couple of days ago! She said, "Bye baby." It may not be very complicated, but it is a sentence. She has also started using a lot more words on a pretty regular basis. "Ball" seems to be a favorite and she says, "apple" a lot. I'm thinking about writing a "Thing 1 to English" translation dictionary because when she says "apple," she isn't referring just to the delicious fruit, she is actually saying, "Please give me something to eat now!" It doesn't really matter if she gets crackers, cheese, or fruit. Although fruit is her favorite.

Thing 1 has also found my secret passageway. The Alphas installed this secret passageway for me as soon as we moved into this house. The passageway allows me to come and go from the house as I please, without having to ask one of the Alphas to open a door from me. It's pretty cool! I use it a lot when I get really excited and Alpha Male chases me around the house. When this happens, I need to exit through the passageway so I can escape and rest for a little bit before I come back inside. I have always enjoyed having this private access to my backyard. Unfortunately, Thing 1 just discovered my secret escape route. The problem is that she enjoys using the secret passageway just as much as I do. The Alphas haven't told me what they're going to do about this yet, but I'm afraid that I am going to lose my easy access to the great outdoors just because Thing 1 is abusing the privilege and sneaking through the door without telling the Alphas where she is going.

And just so that Thing 2 doesn't get jealous and complaint that Thing 1 is getting all of my attention, I would like to report that Thing 2 had another weigh in and she is gaining about 1 ounce a day and growing very long. She's even outgrown some of her clothes already. It's hard to believe that people make clothes that are smaller than my tiny Thing 2.

The Alphas still haven't trained Thing 2 to do any tricks. I'll be sure to share just as soon as she starts doing something. Maybe I'll try to teach her to roll over just like I do.