Oh Buddy, You're In Trouble

The other night, my father-in-law came over so we all went outside to say hello and help move some things. We left Jackson inside. The Lorax and I played outside for a bit when Dan and his dad left. We came inside to get something and Jackson was no where to be found. He didn't come running when we came inside. I didn't see his leash either... maybe he went with the guys for a ride?

Nope. I found Jackson. Here:

The little weenie jumped onto the chairs and up onto the table. He finished off the rice left in the Lorax's dish and half a chicken tender from Dan's plate.


The arrow is pointing to some dip that was on his paw.

Thank you for not getting sick overnight in our bed. You're still going on a diet.

Dogs on Thursday & A Quick FO

I haven't participated in Dogs on Thursday in a while, so certainly it is overdue. I thought I would share how Jackson and Lorelai currently interact (with some commentary)


This is one of Jackson's best tricks - we call it "The Squirrel" because how he sits upright with his itty bitty paws. Lorelai frequently walks about carrying her little snack cup (by Munchkin, more on them later). She has learned that if she holds something in her hand out and up infront of Jackson he'll sit up and try to get it. Goldfish, cheese, bits of eggos, whatever.


This picture shows that my kids are about the same "height". Jackson is very gentle in getting the food from Lorelai. Sometimes she lets go, sometimes he gets to sniff the food and then she takes it back (and I ignore the dog slobber on her snacks).


The bigger issue now is that I want her to actually give the snack or whatever to Jackson - if he sits and behaves he has earned the treat. She'll even hold her empty hand out and up to get jackson to sit (sometimes he pays attention and doesn't bother if he knows she doesn't have anything). We working on (and will be for a long time I am certain) not teasing the dog.

He's a good sport. Like always.

In knitting, I used part of one of the mini-sample skeins from the PhatFiber box to knit a Tea cup handle sweater. Because I can. The yarn is a sport-weight BFL, color "Sugar Lips" from Sweet Pea Fibers. (OMG, love her etsy shop! when I learn to spin more consistently, I want!!)
I think I have enough left over for a second one - and I also think that it will take me longer to sew on buttons than it did to actually knit it!


Back to Munchkin for a moment. They are my new favorite company. The snack cup is fantastic (way better than the gerber one, don't waste your money.) Recently I bought one of their flip straw cups - it just makes life easier to get Lorelai to use straws (and she does just fine with them). The colors are great, and the cups are BPA-free (important).

Well, I wanted to buy more of these - like a 2 pack I see of all the other brands, but couldn't find them - not at Target / online / wherever. So I was hunting around online for something else that might be suitable and everything it seems is covered with Dora or Diego, the Disney Princesses, Sesame Street, Elmo or SpongeBob. Now. I have nothing truly against any of these brands, I really don't. I am not going to keep any of those things from the Lorax intentionally, but right now - all she needs is the cup with the straw. She doesn't care right now if it's blue or pink or yellow with purple polka dots. Then I came across the dwink juice box holder and I got really annoyed. What's worse - character branded marketing or terrible spelling? I want to write a letter of complaint to that company.

I held off settling for any of the character items and was thinking about investing in the more expensive "Green" options and then I found it. A 4 pack - two sports bottle, 2 flip straw cups, all the Munchkin brand and BJ's wholesale club. Perfect. The cups are all interchangeable. Bright colors. Lorelai picked the blue-green-purple pack, even better. Okay, end of silly rant.

Psst!

Can you ask Santa to bring me some toys and treats?

My Dog is Such a Good Sport (Part1)

I'm so "one of those moms" - you know the kind that get all Martha Stewart about stuff? Yeah, it's in my genes. My mom did it and I love it - still do, I've already started a file of magazine pages with ideas for costumes / parties / decorations / crafts for when Lorelai is older. But, let's not forget, Jackson, my "furbaby" was here first. So he's the one with the hand-sewn costume. And last year I knit his sweater. Because he's special. Yes, I lugged out my sewing machine, a recent issue of Bark magazine and some felt:

We'll just ignore the fact that I forgot he's 6 inches off the ground and the flower petals are 6 inches long!

Jackson is such a good sport. Love ya buddy!





Stay tuned for tomorrow - both babies in costume!

Not right either.

I've got this idea in my head to make a witch hat. For babies. I started with one pattern and got something way too big. A bit of re-thinking and I decided to start again and this time make the newborn size (less knitting to see if it works!) Well. It doesn't match what's in my head. I'm not sure what to do next. I think I've got the brim down, it's just a matter of shaping the body. Something with the decreasing...

The body seems too tall or something.
It is a newborn size so there's no way it will fit Lorelai, but even so - I think we might be done with hats... (I may have to tie her hats to her head this winter!)



Jackson is off barking at a chipmunk fart or something, so here's Lorelai for Dogs on Thursday reading one of her favorite books "That's not my puppy"


And Lorelai's newest trick? The tongue is out, all the time!

neener neener neener

Kisses

Trying to make one post to cover everything. First, it is Thursday, so there's a Jackson spotlight for Dogs on Thursday:

He's been pretty good since we returned from vacation. Only one accident in the house (we give him one free pass when he comes back to us) and he's uber-affectionate. Kisses all around, especially for the baby:




She doesn't seem to mind too much:


Yay for harmony in the house.

There is knitting in this post too - seems like it has been a while, but I've mostly been knitting baby genius burp cloths a la Mason-Dixon - it's now my easy, mindless, grab and go project!

(gosh, Lorelai looks like a little kid here!)

I'm just about done with a sweater for Lorelai too:

(More kisses!) I knit and finished the first sleeve, then last night I was working on the second sleeve and realized I didn't decrease enough times. Whoops. So, I plan to un-do the left sleeve bind off and work back about 8 rows to redo. At least it's not a huge mistake. The sweater is maybe a 6-9month size, so I do have a little bit of time.

Other bits about my life recently - the ants seem to be taken care of - had tons last night at the baits, cleared out the counter and put out new ones last night - nothing this morning, and I put out new ones this morning - so far, nothing. I'll give it another day still.

My favorite band, Barenaked Ladies have put out a children's cd - "Snacktime" - it's really cute. Totally "them" and nothing so annoyingly catchy that I'll be humming it all day. Love it!

Today out at knitting with Mad-Knitter I got to meet another blogger-knitter: Wifemomknitter - so much fun!

I'm also loving:Motherhood Uncensored

Playtime (Dogs on Thursday)

Jackson is a very playful dog - part of that clown-around-dachshund personality. We've always had toys for him, and ever since he was a puppy we've had our own version of "fetch". We throw the toy. He runs after it. He picks it up, brings it back and doesn't let go! We're working on it - sometimes he'll drop it, sometimes he'll tug when you hold the other end / side. The current favorite toy is "Heave a Beaver" from FatCat - they are sturdy and last quite a long time. They have enough space for his little snout and the rope is a good chew surface. We've enjoyed "Hurl a Squirrel", "Chuck a Duck", "Fling a Frog", "Toss a Possum" as well - and now they have new farm ones! Lorelai is more interactive and sometimes Jackson tries to play with her:
(I love that he's eyeing her in this photo)



He's a very good sport!

Dogs on Thursday

In keeping with my 101 list, I'm trying to shoot a roll of film each month. That's actual film, negatives, not digital. I have a very basic SLR that I adore, but I am still learning how to use it properly. The fun part is seeing what pictures I actually get among all the others that are blurry, out of focus, not well light, too well lit, etc. Here's my favorite:

This picture was not staged, and really my baby does not wail often. I find it funny because she has so much around her to occupy her / keep her happy and yet Jackson is on her play gym, in her space.

I got a series of good shots of Jackson, in my opinion, so we'll just shine the spotlight on him.


Little knitting to report as of now - getting ready for Easter, we're hosting!

My Chair - Dogs On Thursday

A few summers ago I bought two big round chairs at Target (Papason?). They are comfortable to curl up and read in, have room to knit, but we used to joke that wouldn't it be nice if Jackson would sit in there? Last year (2006) around Christmas, he would go sit in the chair - it was diagonally across the room from our dining table, so I think he liked it because he could see us. Over the summer he would go to the chair when it was too hot to sit on us. He is getting better about going to his chair during the day or night when either we don't sit and give him a lap, or when he's tired. Yesterday I put Lorelai in the chair and lured him with treats. He didn't seem to mind... too much!

Do you have the treats?


I don't want to smile!


This photo shoot is about me, right?

Hanging out at the Gym (Dogs on Thursday)

Lorelai's toys (not that there are many) are in the same room as Jackson's toys. It's where we all hang out, so there's bound to be overlap. And many baby toys are just like the dog toys - bright colors, squeaky, rattles, crinkly. So it's only natural (to us) that we put them both down on the mat to enjoy. Actually, Jackson's been really good so far with that gym. We thought for sure he would try to nip at the handing toys - he's only gone after the pillow a few times and then it was to get our attention. He tried to hump it once as well, but it's soft and so it collapsed as he put his paws on the arches - that was the end of that.

Dogs on Thursday - Bath Time

Jackson is a pretty low maintenance sort of dog. We try to brush him regularly - he's a short hair and doesn't shed too much to begin with, but he does shed. He needs to get his nails clipped and we bring him to the groomer for that. Otherwise, we are able to just give him a bath in the sink - once a month maybe. We're also lucky in that when he's outside he's not the type of dog to roll around too much in anything icky. We gave him a bath this past weekend and as I was walking toward the kitchen his little face looking out from the sink was so cute - the camera just didn't capture how cute it was!

Dogs on Thursday - Pack Expansion

Since we brought Lorelai home, we've kept a close eye on Jackson. He's actually done much better than we thought he would with her - he keeps a close eye on her, constantly sniffs her and will lay down next to her rocker or on my lap when she's eating. Maybe it's a dog thing - when we went to RI this past weekend to celebrate Nana's birthday my uncle's mini schnauzers were the same way! Here's the photographic evidence.

Failed Halloween Costume (Dogs On Thursday)

I put a lot of items on my dog - a lot of them homemade knitted objects. He's a good sport, though you can tell by his face that he is doing it only because he loves me. Currently I am working on knitting his Halloween costume - it was an ambitious project and I should have focused on it more previously - not just this past week. It should be ok though, so I'm not worried too much.

At target today I did find the astronaut costume! I was so excited - a back-up costume, just in case. I bought the small size (for dogs with 10in - 13in neck to tail length) - there weren't any mediums. I cut it off the hang tag board and pop it on the dog. It's a disaster.





There's no way his back legs can fit into those leg sleeves. Now that I look at the corgi model closer it doesn't look like his legs are in there either - they are not velcroed shut. I could live with that, but being a dachshund he's endowed in the chest area and it barely stays velcroed there. Anyone interested in buying it from me? $9.99. I'll trade for yarn or books (check out my amazon wishlist even)....

Now the pressure is on and I really need to bust out the original idea!

Dogs on Thursday - Celebrity Edition

Yesterday's paper must have picked up this piece - Fergie, of the Black Eyed Peas, has 2 dachshunds! We're in good company with celebrities and their dachshunds, but first, my pupper, who has been the Met Pet of the Week, and a Halloweenie-fest costume winner two years in a row (We're working on this year's costume). Of course he's going to try out some of the new baby gear!


Dachshunds & Literature Shakespeare! Joyce! Faulkner!
Dachshunds & Theatre Brando! John Wayne! The original dog for the Wizard of Oz!
Dachshunds & Politics Patton! Napoleon!

Dogs on Thursday

I thought this was cool, Dogs on Thursday and have signed up for it - Jackson is often a part of my blog and I don't see that changing, so why not give him a day? Lord knows I take enough pictures of the little guy and that currently we spend an immense amount of time together.

The breeders from whom we adopted Jackson have updated their website, check it out! lynnesdoxieheaven.com. We love Lynne and Skip - our dog is great and we've met others from there as well, equally sweet, fit and friendly. Jackson is on their "adopted puppy" page - in a little red sweater (I didn't make it though).

Jackson had a trip to the vet this week. Routine, to update shots and stuff. He did have to have blood drawn. When he came back in the room I started laughing - he had a wee little bandage on his leg - it was only on for an hour or so. He walked about and kept shaking his leg - as if he could shake it off. Of course I had to get out the camera as soon as we got home!



Love that it had little blue paw prints on it!

If that was the worst of the vet visit I'll take it - he went into the vet office without barking!! If you've met Jackson (or any dachshund) this is HUGE! Of course he wanted out the whole time we were there, but he was quiet.

He's been so affectionate today - curled up in my lap, or on my side when I was laying on my side before - keeps going in for a kiss. Good boy!