Annabel at 4-ish Months

 Annabel celebrated her 4 month birthday on December 24th, so she's already midway to five months, which seems hard to believe. 

Day one:

A couple weeks ago:

She came to us a 2.1-pound ball of fur, and now she is an 8.3-pound ball of fur. She is incredibly sweet and inquisitive. Unlike Beatrix, she is spunky and energetic and open to new experiences. The broom and vacuum cleaner, for example, are not enemies or tormentors. They are fun loud, friends she likes to play with. I adore this attitude of hers.

She also DOES NOT SHED AT ALL, and this is a life-changer. Beatrix's short hair came out in giant clumps. You could not pet her without developing werewolf hands. Her hair was EVERYWHERE. She did this funny thing where she'd get scared (often by the broom or vacuum) and drop, like, a whole dog's worth of hair on the spot. It was pretty gross.

Annabel has eaten a couple of pairs of Minnie's shoes (my bad, honestly, for leaving them on the laundry room floor) and a pair of Ben's slippers (but you guys they said PAPA BEAR on them. so good riddance, you know?) the plastic coffee cup out of a Fisher Price Little People guy's hand, and Pocahontas' torso. Plus a tiny section of a wall in the bathroom and a small piece of trim in the living room (LOL-- both look like. mouse bibbled them, which would be WAY MORE TERRIBLE, IMO). But really this is all NBD because she is so tiny.

TINY DOGS ARE WHERE IT'S AT.

Because she is a poodle, she is prone to having a sensitive stomach. She does great if she eats Hill's Science Diet kibble and beef and barley wet food (BLECH) and NOTHING ELSE. But! She patrols the crumbs under the kids' counter stool pretty aggressively, eats a piece of cheese every now and then, and really likes collagen sticks, Blue Buffalo puppy treats, and protein rings. She's fine, though, and very very very good at going outside to use the bathroom.

We hung bells by the back door, and she loves ringing them to go out. Lately, she has been ringing them for the pleasure of going out, going in, going out, going in, etc etc etc. That's how we made an amazing discovery: SHE NEEDS TO GO ON LOTS OF WALKS!! I love this for me! I take her for a quick 15- minute walk first thing in the morning and another before I pick up Minnie. Then Minnie and I bundle up and walk her to the park in our neighborhood in the afternoon, and she and I do laps around the park while Minnie plays, and we all walk home-- this is WONDERFUL! I look forward to nicer weather and longer walks.

The kids play with her in the evening, when she gets the zoomies and goes around and around the living room couch. She is good at fetch and tug of war, and both of these games tire her right out. She sleeps all night long and through my morning exercise routine. She is less fond of riding in the car than she was when she was super tiny, but she is happy to lie down in her crate while I do the afternoon kid run. I have been too tired and cold to take her for a night walk when we get home (and the girls have been too hungry), but I can see how this would be a good addition to her schedule. I am not sure I can swing it the nights Ben is away, but I am going to give it a try. (Honestly, it would be good for me because it is my very crabbiest time of day-- I am going to try to make this work).

(It's hard right now because Jack is the rail manager for the spring musical, plus it is diving season for his high school team, plus the speech season is starting, plus he has a job teaching swim lessons 4 nights a week, plus he has 2 AP classes and it's the end of the semester, so he is not often home to watch kids for me. And! Cooper dives until 8 4 nights a week. Maybe I could take her out at 8 after Minnie is in bed??)

I look forward to her being confident in her ability to go up and down stairs (very scared of them right now), so she can play in the backyard. Spring maybe??