How soon we forget

It's been thirteen years since we had a puppy. Put another way, it's been two houses, two kids, three cats, and three jobs since we've had a puppy. How soon we forget.

I have felt the same way upon being presented with the new-born babies of dear friends, years after having my own. On the one hand, the memories of their births are so sharp and clear in my mind, but I still hold those babies and think, "They're so SMALL!" And it's easy to forget the little things, like myconium, and that first month, and just how truly helpless they are in that first stage. Once they're about nine months old, the shock is no longer there; I think those stages of early childhood last a bit longer, and are therefore perhaps more strongly remembered (at least for me). But that first couple of months... (That newborn baby cry, though, is something that is instantaneously recognizable.)

It would appear that there are some ways in which getting a puppy is like that. I keep thinking that we've got a problem, because this dog is clearly never going to be able to be as well-behaved as Kia. And then I really look at her and remember what Kia was like when she was a brand-new puppy. For goodness' sake, I remind myself, she chewed the corner off of the lovely Turkish rug Rick's grandmother gave us when we got married. Right. Well-behaved, my left buttock. She was a puppy.

We got Kia's old crate out (yes, we saved it, and yes, I'm now very glad that we've dragged that thing with us through two moves), so the puppy can sleep in it at night and stay in it when we're all out of the house (haven't done that yet, actually). I put her in there the first night and she went absolutely ballistic (this was the first moment when I realized that I may have forgotten a few things in the thirteen years since we adopted Kia). It took about 45 minutes before she calmed down (and lest anyone thing that we stuck her in some room far away from the rest of her pack, I hasten to disabuse you of that notion; the crate was six inches away from my side of the bed, and my fingers were stuck in through the side while I was going to sleep so she could know I was there)(what can I say, I'm a sucker). But then she slept all night, which I appreciated. She settled down much more quickly last night. But I'm dreading the first time we leave her, as I'm thinking her early experiences on the street have left her a bit traumatized.

Ummm, did I mention it looks like we're going to keep her? (As if you all expected anything else.) Her visit with our vet went very well, although the vet said that she has absolutely no idea what she could possibly have been mixed with to get legs like those (maybe Corgie? Dachsund? seriously, can you imagine how a Belgian shepherd/Dachsund mix could possibly happen?). Rick won't let me name her Stumpy. So we've decided that Mathilda fits her personality quite nicely.

Meanwhile, knitting has continued. I'm working away on the baby sweater, and am ready to put the seed stitch border on the body. I'm guessing the sleeves will go fairly quickly, and I have high hopes for some knitting time this afternoon when Rick takes Older Daughter to a slumber party (I am going to request that he take Younger Daughter along for the ride).
I still love the colors. Aren't they just the happiest thing you've ever seen? This, however, isn't.
Do you see those ends?! I have to weave all of those in. And all the ends that will be generated in the sleeves. I honestly think it's going to take me longer to finish this sucker than to knit it. I'm really glad that I chose the 12-18 month size for this baby (who, for the record, is now four weeks old). It takes the pressure off.

I've also been working on something for Anne. I'm actually three more repeats on after last night's knitting session (we watched LadyHawk with the girls; anyone remember that movie?). More details to come. Meanwhile, though, I'm really enjoying working with this yarn. It's Melosa Lanas Puras laceweight, sent to me by the lovely Lis, in the colorway Desert Bloom (thanks, Lis!). I'll try to get you all a better picture so you can see the colors, which are subtle and lovely and cheerful: exactly what I like in my spring knitting. This yarn is a singles, which I'm not sure I've worked with before, and it's handling beautifully, even when I have to purl 2 together through the back loops, and I can't ask more than that. I will definitely be knitting with it again very soon (how do I know this, you ask? why, because there are two more skeins in fern green sitting in my knitting bowl, I answer. Oops).
Think of that picture as an amuse-bouche, meant to leave you wanting more (snort; so much better than thinking of it as bad photography, eh?).