Poor Ramen

Many years ago there was a woman on tv who was a pet psychic. Nerdstar loved that show. She has always wanted to be able to "talk" with the pets. She's been worried about Ramen since the cats died, and since we've had Noah. He has seemed a little less energetic.

We've been reading John Katz for several years. I don't envy his life on the farm only because he really conveys how much hard work it is. Nerdstar has always wanted lots of animals around.

Anyway, he has recently written about Jeannie, a pet psychic he knows and is working with, one animal at a time. We figured if he trusted her, it was worth giving a try.

Yesterday, we spoke with her on the phone for about 30 minutes. Apparently, we've bored Ramen to death. He kept showing her that he really wants to be outdoors more, to have more walks and to be able to even run around off leash sometimes. He's a dog's dog and wants more of a dog's life - outside running around and smelling things. The back yard is nice, but he wishes we were outside with him more. She said that even though he's 13 years old, he feels like he's 3. If we can provide more outdoor, walking, running time, he'll really "come back to life".

He's not upset about the cats not being around. We knew they weren't close. And he's fine with Noah being here.

He said he listens to me more than Nerdstar because I'm more clear and direct, and it makes him feel safer. So she's going to work on that and on taking him for more walks. We pretty much stopped walking him once we got the back yard for him.

There are a few problems with the off leash dog parks in our area. They're not all that close to where we live. They're in the process of setting up one in our area, but that's still months away. The bigger problem is they don't allow kids under 9 or 10 in with the dogs. And while I understand that - it's a pain in the butt to not be able to let them both run around in the same area.

It's a shame we're finding this out right as the cold weather is setting in. We'll do what we can until it warms up and then hopefully really find him some areas and times to be a dog.

We feel like she had some basic but good insight into Ramen, so it was cool.

original gangsta!

15 Months

Noah had his 15 month check up yesterday. He's officially a tall, skinny boy - 73% for height and 40% for weight. We've actually fattened him up just a little bit, he was at 30% for weight.

The doc was a little concerned that he isn't saying any words yet. I've generally felt that while he's obviously a smart kid, he's sometimes behind on things, and that's ok with us. We know boys are slower in some areas, and he's usually not too far behind. We're going to give him a few more weeks to start speaking English.

He's definitely getting better at understanding what we tell him. When he's hungry he's been in the habit of coming to me and pulling on my shirt and yelling at me. So I ask him if he's hungry and he says "uh-huh" and I ask if he wants a snack and he says "uh-huh". Then I tell him, "ok, let's go to the kitchen" and he heads to the kitchen and to his high chair. It's so cute. Eventually he'll just go stand by his high chair when he's hungry.

The one thing he tends to get into upstairs is the books on our bookshelves, he likes to pull one or two off the shelf, but he doesn't tear them up or anything. I'm working on taking his hand and having him walk away while saying "walk away". With any luck I can train him to literally walk away from things he's getting into. We'll see, I know that's pretty optimistic.

The most fun thing he's doing lately is when we're all in his room he'll take about 3 steps towards the door and turn around and babble at us until we say "ok" then he'll take 3 more steps and repeat until he's out in the hall. Then he'll take off down the hall and wait for us to say "Where's Noah? Where did he go?" Then he'll come running back down the hall into his room and we'll say "Yah -there he is!!" Easiest way ever for us to play hide and seek!!

I always knew I wasn't a baby person, and said just hand me the kid when it can walk and talk. Every day I find him more and more fun. He makes me laugh every day. And oh boy, once he can actually talk... we literally can't wait to see what he tells us!

Happy early Veteran's Day!

This is not an ad for the Java Monster brand of beverage, I simply posted this picture of me and my soldiers in uniform if some of you guys/gals had not seen me in uniform before.

So....

I can't believe that I am now a full-fledged veteran! So, a day early, I'm going to wish my fellow veterans a happy veteran's day! Now, I know that many of you would like to buy me a beer or something, but due to the distance and the logistic concern, most of you faithful readers are unable to, but I still will thank you from the bottom of my heart! Now, for those of you who will be buying me beers, I'm not that hard to please, I like Guinness, Fat Tire, Pyramid Apricot Ale, and anything else that does not start with the letter B and end with a R!

Or, if you see someone in uniform at a restaurant or some place, offer to pay their meal or buy them a cup of joe, I know that they'll really appreciate it!

Also, worth mentioning is that veteran's day is sort of for Noah Maxx also! As some of you might know, his donor is in the navy, or at least he was when he donated his swimmers. I was, at the time of Noah Maxx's conception, a second lieutenant in the army, so Noah Maxx is our army/navy baby! Happy veteran's day, Noah Maxx, and when/if it's your time to enlist, I hope you'll go air force! :-)

From what seems like almost a million years ago...

Overdrive

I am so excited for Noah because he is just so darn happy now that he can walk around. He's wanted to be in motion for most of his life, and he finally is. He walks around chattering and laughing. He's very close to running.

Somehow we missed the memo on the overdrive switch (or invisible meth drip) that comes with walking. We're assuming he's in a big growth spurt because he's been eating about twice the amount he was eating. Now, he's not eating any new foods yet, just a lot more of the regulars. When he's not eating, he's walking and walking and playing and walking. Yesterday he didn't nap until 4 pm, and then only for an hour. Thankfully, today he napped from 11 am to about 1:15. He's also waking up hungry in the night sometimes. I told Nerdstar it'd be nice if there was some sort of bottle holder thing like in hamster cages for his crib.

Also, for the first time, I've sent Noah out and about with Nerdstar without me. I've got the whole house to myself without having to worry about when he's going to wake up! They're going to lunch with some friends and then to the Korean grocery store. I told him he had to be good for her like he is for me!

A couple of funny pics:

This is him hanging out the pet door. In addition to throwing toys/books down the stairs, he also throws them out the pet door. Fun. He also yells at Ramen when Ramen is outdoors.




For some reason, he's decided that this shelf of his changing table is a great place to take breaks when playing.

Hahaahahahaa!