Malley

I've been slacking on my blogging this week because it's been a big week for our family.  We got a new puppy!  Having an 8 month old and a puppy plus keeping up with our normal comings and goings have really kept us busy.  We've been planning for months on getting a dog as soon as the holidays were over and we would be in town for an extended period of time.  It took us a few weeks of looking, but we found the perfect little girl for us.  

Introducing Malley Fuhr....

She is a 14 week old mixed breed - boxer, lab, mastiff we think - that was left out in the cold in Alaska with the rest of her litter.  She has a very sweet, mellow personality and is wonderful with Ethan.  It is so fun to have a dog in the house again.  We have a lot of chaos at times with a baby and a puppy!

We picked Malley out because she was very calm and sweet, even with lots of other dogs and people around, knowing that a hyper little dog would not be good with Ethan.  So far we made a good choice.  We've had her for a week now and she hasn't nipped at him once and is so gentle with him.  I think she thinks he is part of her litter because she sits and walks over him like puppies do with each other.  

She is a very smart dog - you just have to tell her no once and she doesn't do that action again (so far...).  She doesn't jump up, she hasn't chewed a single thing yet, she knows the difference between E's toys and hers and only plays with her's (even though E's toys are all over the floor) and best of all she is already asking to go outside to go to the bathroom!  

All puppies have big paws, so we're not surprised by the size of her's.  It's the length of her legs that have us wondering...we think she is going to be a very tall dog.  Since she is going to be so big, Aaron and I are pretty serious on making sure she is very well trained.  And since I've never trained a puppy, obedience class starts in a few weeks!

We had a hard time settling on a name for this little girl.  I joked with my friends that it took Aaron and I six months to agree on Ethan, naming a dog isn't any easier.  But after a few days we had narrowed it down between Kona (after the Hawaiian city) or Malley (after O'Malley peak, in the Chugach Range that we see everyday as we drive to our house).  I love that she is named after something in Alaska so that even after we move from here she'll always be our Alaskan puppy.  

By the way, Ethan is still doing great.  He is going through a big growth spurt right now.  Last week he ate all day and still couldn't get enough to eat and this week he is sleeping as much as an infant.  We can almost see him grow each day as he gradually is getting too big for his clothes.  

He is loving having a fun little puppy in the house that moves and jumps.  When Malley gets going with her ball or duck Ethan likes to sit and watch her and just laugh and laugh.   Through Malley I have figured out that Ethan knows his name.  I always figured it was my tone of voice that he was responding to when I talked to him, but I use the same tone of voice Malley and him and he only responds when I say Ethan or E.  

For example, he doesn't do anything when I say 'Malley, leave Ethan's toys alone.' but he turns and smiles (scarily similar to an onery little boy smile...) when I say 'Ethan, leave Malley's food alone.'  

Ethan had his first scary moment the other day, and this cute little ducky bathtub was the cause.  We were given this tub as a gift at one of my baby showers and I have been excitedly waiting to use it because I thought it would be a lot of fun for Ethan to have a huge ducky in bathtime.  Apparently E didn't think it was as cute as I did because he panicked as I put him in it.  Poor little man was crying and grabbing at me as hard as he could just to get out of the duck.  He was even a little nervous whenever we went into the bathroom for the next day or so, afraid the mean duck was going to get him.

Other than that, he's busy being an 8 month old - eating solids (blueberries!)....

...and working hard on learning to walk.