Uckies

JB doesn't feel good. I don't feel good. Isaac doesn't feel good. Now Elijah doesn't seem to be feeling good. We aren't sure what we all have, but it appears to be the same. Runny nose, no energy, drip in the throat. Just icky. I can't exercise. Heck I get winded just doing the laundry. We thought Isaac's was allergies, but it appears he has a cold. Do dogs ever get sick? Scrubs just seems frustrated with the blah-ness in our house right now. It'd be nice if he would catch a cold so I didn't have to try to figure out how to exercise him when I don't feel good.

JB's Dad taught me a good game for Scrubs. Chasing him in the backyard. Scrubs gets his ball. He returns it to me a few times. Then, instead of taking it from him, I try to chase him. I really don't have to move much at all. I just jab a bit, and he goes sprinting off. I was worried that this would make him turn into the run-away-from-Wendi dog that he was when he was a pup, but as soon as I say "come" he recognizes that the chase game is over, and he brings me the ball. This bit of exercise has proven mighty helpful with the way I have been feeling.

So now I have jogs with me, Frisbee in the front yard (man is he good at this now!), jumping for his rings in the house, the chase game in the yard, fetch in the yard, and the flashlight. This gives me a good mixing of exercise opportunities. I usually have to pick at least two a day that I do for a minimum of 15 minutes a piece in order to keep him from being a crazy dog for the rest of the day. When it was warmer out, he seemed to be much more chill during the day. But I think this cold weather has gotten him a bit more hyper.

Speaking of Scrubs, I hung a Christmas chime on the backdoor in place of his bell (which never showed up by the way.) He has taken to ringing the chimes just the same as his bell. It isn't as loud, and I can't decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing. It's a less annoying noise, sorta pretty actually, but it is harder for me to hear it if I am not in the kitchen. We'll see how it works out.

Oh, gotta share an Isaac funny. With all the blah-ness going on in our house right now, Isaac wasn't getting much excitement from his Daddy and Mommy when he brought them his usual dose of books to read after dinner. I was sitting on one couch. JB was on the other. Isaac took turns trying to figure out which one of us would be the better recipient of his next choice. At one point he brought a book about Daisy Duck to JB. JB decided to read each word backwards. Just because he was in a blah mood, and he thought it would be fun. Isaac, without saying anything, took the book from him, shut it, got off his lap, and walked over to me. He climbed up on my lap, handed me the book, and asked me to "pease" read it. We laughed so hard. He was totally unimpressed and actually a bit peeved with JB's backward reading skills.

Isaac is talking like crazy. We tried counting his words the other day. We got to about 75 and then determined that this wasn't really worth the effort anymore since he was adding so many words everyday. Many are hard to understand, but he is definitely starting to try to say everything. The interesting thing is, he won't talk much at all when he is at someone else's house or at church or even when other people are over at our house. He might say a word or two, but he is basically silent. It's only when it is just us in the house that he begins his chattering. Is this usual or just his personality?

Elijah on the other hand, appears to be no respecter of persons. Anyone can be over, and he can be anywhere else. He'll grunt and squawk and "caw" like the best of 'em.

All righty, off to finish a movie with JB.

Tomorrow I am going to share the piece I wrote about Nelly for my counseling sessions. I'm writing this now so that I don't chicken out. I'll post it tomorrow.