P, my lovely wife, is usually up and rolling well before I'm awake. Partially because she's a natural morning person and I'm very much a night owl but also because she's got the little baby inside her pressing on her bladder all the time, so she's up peeing alot.
Its actually worked out beautifully with potty training Nande. I take her out before I go to bed and, if she happens to wake up in the middle of the night and needs to pee, P will likely already be awake or in some stage of waking. And she'll take Nande out for a walk in the morning which is great for both of them, heck, its great for me too. The exercise does P alot of good and Nande is engaging ever more synapses as she sniffs and explores and learns more about her world.
I read last night that there is a six month window from birth to try and recruit as many synaptic connections as possible. The more the puppy gets to do, see, taste, touch and all that means that, literally, their brain will develop more fully and they'll be a happier and more "complete" animal. So, I'm planning on some fun outings as soon as she's cleared for them. Like taking her to the beach, taking her to play disc golf, maybe building her a pyramid to climb up and over and all kinds of other things.
But this morning, I got to see P just after she'd gotten out of the shower and was slowly working on getting dressed. A naked and very pregnant and very beautiful woman. She looks further along than just over six months but the doc says she's doing perfectly and that's good enough for me. Her back is sore and she's tired alot of the time but she's in pretty good spirits most of the time and has that contented glow of pending mommahood upon her. Maybe I'll snap a picture of her one morning to show just how big her belly has gotten already.
It also served as a really good reminder to me that I've gotta be taking on more and more of the duties around the house because she's just less able to do them as well anymore. Like when she turns sideways in an effort to slip past something, sorry, babe, that ain't happening anymore. She's wider sideways than frontways now.
I know that we've got a huge life altering event on the horizon but its one that we're both excited about and very much looking forward to. I love the idea of coming home from work to my family. Its already pretty wonderful with P and Nande waiting for me, Nande's little happy wiggles and grunting happiness is enough to erase almost any irritation. And maybe that needs some expounding, Nande "speaks" to me alot, in groans and emotion laden yowls and yips and all the other myriad sounds she makes. Its amazing cute and I love that I'm really the only one she does it for, it makes me feel even more bonded and connected to her.
For David, I will be adding new pictures to Nande's gallery later on this week. None of the pics from the party in the park came out well enough to post. And the one of Nande and the HUGE Rottie would have been awesome but Nande had just ducked behind P's leg as I snapped. Oh well, plenty of opps in the offing. Like tomorrow night, we'll have Modoc and Brady over as well as a bunch of friends so there will be ample photo ops, I think.
And a PS:
If anyone has an interest in dogs and their rehabilitative abilities, check out Cell Dogs on Animal Planet. They don't have a site for the show but here's a link to a story about the program. Basically, inmates in prisons are selected to raise and train dogs to be used for disabled people. Its a really, really heartening and enlightening show. You get a glimpse of prison life, hear what some pretty normal looking people have done to end up prison and then you see how they love, really love, their dogs and train them to be great aides.
Last night's episode was about the California Institute for Women and all the dog trainers were convicted of some pretty violent crimes like murder, manslaughter and the like. They all copped to it, which I'm guessing was part of the deal, and made no apologies and they'd been in prison for more than ten years each, at least. The dogs were awesome and seeing the pleasure that the inmates derived from the dogs was pretty cool.
Layne, you should check it out for sure if you're on puppy track.
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