Sentence?

Lately, Margot has been saying things that sound a lot like sentences. They generally are missing verbs, but you get the idea. Examples are: "Mama outside" (generally referring to Daddy being outside) and "Margot outside" (to mean that she would like to go outside). Today, we had the start of communication at an entirely new level.

Margot was standing next to Jolly's crate, eating her toast. Jolly was unexpectedly in the crate looking very excitedly at M's toast. I walked over and saw that the door to the crate was closed, presumably by Margot owing to Jolly's lack of thumbs. Somewhat confused, I asked, "Margot, what are you doing?" to which she responded "I close dog". My brain heard, "I closed the dog into the crate, mother". It was amazing AND involved the use of a verb!

Ahh, the unexpected wonders of parenthood.

Bean Meets Bear

Margot got a very special visit this weekend from her blog-sister Claire Bear.  

It was really great to get these two together ...

... (as well as seeing our old friends her parents).


She even ate my cooking!

... which apparently has Kung Fu Bean Power!


Thanks for visiting, y'all... even Jolly had a great time with a scamperer in the house, even for a short while.

A View on Jolly's World

We made a decision not to let Jolly on the furniture in order to keep it clean. This didn't entirely fit in with my visions of bringing home a fluffy rescue who would instantly adore me for my inherent wonderfulness and for giving him a new home and loving environment. I had dreams of us cuddling on the couch watching a movie on a cold winter night, but the real dog that we brought home had other ideas. Both times I tried to get him off of the armchair that he claimed as his own resulted in baring of teeth (on his part) and near tears (on my part). In order to avoid an escalating battle of wills, we started piling random things on the soft surfaces to make them less comfortable. After a year of storing my cookie sheets and cooling racks in the living room, Jolly gave up trying. On our visit home to Brooklyn we learned why. He seems to have determined that the cushions are the problem. The second we took them off the couch at mom's to open the sofa bed, he jumped right up there.

If only we had one of these cushionless sofas at home!

Thanksgiving Teaser

OK folks - I know everyone's out there in turkey-hangover, and probably surfin' over to see what's been put online lately . . . well, we're down in Brooklyn at Christi's Mom's place, and having lots of fun. The big surprise is, we're taking lots of pictures! So, until we get them a bit organized later, here are a couple teasers so that you don't have to wait so long...

Squirrel Poem 1

'Tis Autumn, and the squirrels abound
Not just "about", but all around
What Paradise has Jolly found!

(stupid squirrels)

OK, More Photos

Hmmm, y'all seemed to like the photos thing. Have some more:

An expecting mother and a playful pup - what more could one ask for?

And, no, I can't figure out why Blogger wanted to format this in this way.