Calvin meet Ollie. No, not eat Ollie.

Calvin is always intrigued by the dogs, and everyone seems to get along well.  Diamond ignores him for the most part, Moose wants to protect him (from us whenever he is crying), and Ollie is in awe of him.  Today, though, was the first time any of our four legged family tried to snuggle him.  Ollie was the courgeous canine who took it upon himself to keep the baby warm on such a cold day, and Calvin couldn't have been more thrilled.  Of course, his excitement was mainly due to the fact that he was sure Ollie was a new toy to chew on, but to Ollie any attention is good attention and he just soaked it all up.  And, no, we didn't let Calvin chew on the dog, but we did take a lot of pictures that we posted in the 22nd week album.

Video game troll

We need to warn all of you who might be owners of video game consoles - there is a video troll on the loose.  We returned home today to find that our house had been visited by said troll, and, though we have not removed our gaming equipment from the TV cupboard for over three months, this (see picture) is how we found our living room upon our return - two controllers and a microphone removed and left on the floor.  We don't believe there is any danger in being the receiver of such visits - nothing else in the house was disturbed, and even the gaming equipment was unharmed and left in neat little piles, but we wanted to let you all know anyhow.

[Disclaimer - it is highly likely that no such troll exists and that, instead, the disruption of equipment that was noted upon our return is due, in its entirety, to a cat wishing to enjoy the warmth inside the entertainment cabinet. ]

Ice fishing and playing in the sprinkler

It was 95 degrees outside this afternoon.  Even our air conditioned house was hot and the dogs were less than enthusiastic so Jon thought he would help them out a little by keeping their drinking water cool with ice cubes.  No such luck.  The ice cubes lasted all of 30 seconds - maybe - before Ollie came loping away from his cool spot in front of the air vent and tactfully fished out one cube after another, leaving a very wet trail between the bowl and the kitchen floor where he ate each one.  But that wasn't our only run in with water today.  In the heavy evening air we decided to water our parched lawn.  Since one of our sprinkler heads was askew Jon thought he would fix it while it was running so he'd know when it was right.  Again, no such luck.  The head proved determined to remain misaligned, and Jon returned looking as though he had fallen in a pool somewhere.  Not a bad idea given the weather, though.

And, in baby news - Calvin has just outgrown the newborn diapers and will now be wearing the size ones.  Calvin is excited about this, but we find it both sad and exciting in the same breath.  Things happen too fast - tomorrow he'll be asking to borrow the car!!!

The animals are still here...

Just so that you don't think we got rid of the animals, or forgot all about them, or have become incapable of taking pictures of anything other than Calvin...here's a couple of the other stinkers living in our household.

Tattletale

Cookie has a way of testing boundaries and Moose has a way of telling on her.  No matter where she is or what she is doing, if it isn't quite legitimate the wiener dog will let us know.  Tonight we were relaxing in the sitting room and that little stinker of a dog was running back and forth between the bedroom and our feet doing his best "Timmy is down in the well" impression, only to point out that the darned cat had ensconced herself in the basket beneath the bassinet draped in the clean baby linens.  It wasn't quite legit, but it wasn't quite off limits either - the mosquito netting only covers the actual cradle of the bassinet.  Good job Moose.