February is supposed to be a short month, but it's felt like a long month to me. Here are a few highlights.
First and foremost, my daughter and son-in-law are having a baby boy! Lyn and I are going to be grandparents to a grandson! I've spent a fair portion of this month gathering patterns and yarn to knit baby things and we're planning to make one of our upstairs rooms into the grandchild room (when it's available - we still have roommates). My daughter wanted to have at least one element of surprise in her son's birth, so we will not know the name until he is born. I can't blame her - people can be awful with opinions and it is a very personal thing. I doesn't mean I don't try to figure it out though. I got a hint and made about 10 pages of names based on that hint and showed them to my daughter hoping she'd tell me if I had gotten one right. She told me I did, but would not even tell me which name the page was on. So, back to wondering. See, I'm not even telling what the hint is to prove to my daughter how I can keep a secret in hopes that she will reveal the name! Regardless, I'm excited about the baby's arrival.
The "V" litter got together on the same day I found out about the baby's gender. Unfortunately, I could not be there with Valora because she got sick again. I had to go up to the GDB campus to get medication for her and she has been on something called Tylan for the whole month. At any rate, the V litter got together and Vicente's raiser took lots of nice pictures. Here is a collage picture that Anna put together of all the puppies.
Valora is in the collage because Vicente and his raisers stopped by on their way home to meet Valora. Vicente and Valora got to meet and play for a little while. Here they are sharing a big blue Jolly Ball.
Valora is the smallest of all the puppies and Vicente is the largest. I think Valora remembered Vicente. The other three puppies are in the same puppy club and I gathered they didn't think the puppies recognized one another as littermates. Anna said they all the puppies had very similar personalities and traits.
Valora has done well with the Tylan and we are beginning outings. She's been to a few small high school basketball games and has started going to Quaker Meeting with Lyn. Apparently she was the inspiration of someone's message during one meeting after she started chewing on that person's shoe laces. Valora's personality is beginning to blossom, too. I have a lot of pictures of Valora, but they're all on my phone and I haven't been able to download them onto the computer. Here's one taken about 2 weeks ago that shows the healthier, less skinny, and playful puppy Valora has become:
I've struggled with work schedule and attending puppy meetings, so this week we officially joined another group on Portland that meets on one of my days off - Sight in the City. I will miss my old group, but I think we'll be in touch and I'll see them at GDB events and around town. It's going to be fun to be part of a newer smaller group. It will also be a good experience for Valora to have a lot of urban exposure since most of the meetings and outings take place in downtown Portland. It's also just fun to be in downtown Portland on a regular basis.
Finally, Yumi completed phase 4 last week and is working on phase 5. I'm fully aware that she could be career changed at any point, but I have a gut feeling she's going to make it. I'll wait for notification that she's been placed, but I'm beginning to sort through pictures and to think about highlights of her time with us to share with her future partner. I often wonder who that person will be and wonder if that person has already started the process of getting a guide dog. Just 3 more phases, Yumi. Maybe this time next month I'll be writing about Yumi being in class!
