Saturday 26 September 2009

The Boys Play Nicely



It might not look like it, but this is Mishka playing nicely with Jackson! We're happy to leave them alone together now, and most likely I'll be taking the pen down soon in the lounge at home, which means they'll be able to interact with each other during the night, which might be interesting.

Sleepy Head & On The Roundabout

Lara seems to be comfortable now sleeping under her duvet, only once or twice in the past two weeks have one of us had to get up in the night to see to her, and just lately she's been sleeping very soundly. Yesterday morning I had to wake her up just after 7am so we could take Olga to the railway station!



This morning was even better - it's Olga's turn to look after Lara on Saturday mornings, and this morning we got up before Lara! We were up at 9am, and Lara only stirred once we started moving around outside the nursery, setting a personal best of 9.07am! I'm sure she'll be back to waking at 7am tomorrow, when it's my turn to look after her!

The weather has been lovely, so we all went to Marlow this afternoon, Lara bounced about on the bouncy castle and took Olga on the roundabout in the park.

Thursday 24 September 2009

The Boys Survive

This afternoon we decided it was time to trust the boys to play together without either of us being around, so when I came home at lunchtime to check on them, I set up the downstairs so they would have access to the lounge, hall & kitchen and each other. Until now I've separated them when no-one else has been in the house, usually keeping Jackson in his pen, although earlier this week I did let him have a free run in the lounge, while keeping Mishka in the hall & kitchen - for the animal lovers out there, they both had access to their respective food and water bowls at all times! Jackson was a little destructive when I let him have the lounge, getting hold of some newspapers and some of Lara's toys, and most worryingly a 4-socket extension, which he chewed the cable of, but I'd already turned the power off at the switch to that, so it was safe, but it was a warning to us.
Anyway, I was a little nervous of what I'd find this afternoon when we got home from work, but everything was OK, Jackson still had both ears and all four legs still attached, and whatsmore, apart from three pee puddles, there wasn't any damage to the house.  For the next day or so I'll still only let them play for a few hours at a time without supervision, especially as Jackson is supposed to be "resting" to help his leg heal. Other than the bandage, you wouldn't know to look at him that he has a broken leg, so I'm sure it's healing properly. How do you convince a 3 1/2 month old puppy to relax? It would be like trying to tell Lara to spend the day chilling on the sofa and watching TV.
This evening we've given Jackson even more freedom, by letting him come and go as he pleases to and from the garden, making use of the catflap while he can still fit through it! We're hoping this will help him with his toilet training, which is going in the right direction, but perhaps not as quickly as it should, mostly because we're out most of the day and he's left to his own devices. The thing is, that was the case with Mishka and I remember being pleasantly surprised by what a breeze it was to house train him.  He's continuing to be the perfect older brother, even letting go of his favourite soft toy when a tog-of-war develops with Jackson over it.
Jackson's off to the vet tomorrow to have his bandage changed again, then it's one more week before we can go out for another walk together, it'll be interesting to see if he's as well behaved then as he was on our last walk...

Wednesday 23 September 2009

Happy Birthday Olga

Yep, Olga was 21 again yesterday. A shame that work commitments meant she was having to give a training course in London and couldn't enjoy a lie-in followed by a lazy day in the office, buying people drinks in the pub, as would be normal behaviour for a Tigress employee.
We did most of the present-handing-over just after midnight on Monday evening, as there wouldn't be time on Tuesday morning - this week, with Olga working in London, we're having to get up at the unearthly hour of 6am, to be ready to leave by 7.30. Lara does her bit though, and so far she's waiting until 6.45ish before waking, although she was only just stirring when I went in this morning just after 7. Lara had made a birthday card on Monday at nursery, so she handed that over on Tuesday morning. The main celebration was saved until Lara had gone to bed last 3night, when the bottle of Champagne from Lucy & Sergei was opened and I got busy in the kitchen. When asked what she would like for dinner on her birthday, the answer had been "hmmm, seafood", which is what she got, and loads of it. A starter of mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce and oysters followed by Wild Canadian Scallops in Papa's Special Beer Batter (I can be creative sometimes), then a main course of trout stuffed with couscous. It was too late and we were both too tired for the dessert of strawberries and cream, so we'll have that tonight instead :-)

A fun weekend





We had a lovely time at our friends' wedding at the weekend. Everything took place in one hotel, which made life easier regarding Lara. The weather played its part, being lovely and sunny.  As usual in hotels, it took Lara longer to get off to sleep in the evenings, as she was excited about the new room, but once she was asleep, that was pretty much it, only needing a drink of water around midnight on the Friday night and not really waking on Saturday night, even when we came in well after 1am.
Lara contributed to the service by shouting a loud "yayyyy" at just the right moment at the end of the ceremony, and later had fun with her meal, and in particular enjoyed licking the chocolate off Olga's profiteroles during dessert, giving herself an amusing goatee:




On Sunday morning we went for a swim in tbe hotel pool. Lara was happy to get in the water straight away, but she took some coaxing to enjoy herself while we pulled her along in the water. We had a family treat on the way home when we stopped at McDonalds, Lara does enjoy her fish fingers and fries from there, and Olga and I certainly enjoyed (and needed!) the quarter-pounders.

Sunday 20 September 2009

Happy Birthday Mishka

Mishka is three today! He's had a lazy day, mostly being looked after by Lucy. He'll have a nice tea tonight, including some roast chicken, and if he wants to sit on the sofa with us and watch TV, we'll make sure Jackson doesn't bother him. Here are some pics from this evening, including ones where Jackson is definitely bothering him!