Picture Journal : Day 1

Mika

I read in a book I have about doing a photo journal on my blog. It says to take a picture each day and write a little something about it. Then, I can go to blurb.com and order my blog into a book. I thought it sounded like a great idea! I tend to have issues with doing something like that everyday, but I want to try it and promise to do my best.

So for day 1, I took a picture of our puppy Mika (mee-ka). In Russian it means God's Child and in Native American it means Wise Raccoon. Once we read the definitions, we knew it was the perfect name for her. She was born January 30, 2011 making her about 14 weeks old now.

She has been a joy (and at times a pain) to have in our little blue-eyed family. Overall, we are extremely happy that we got her. She is Koda's actual sister, just 2 litters later. She looks and acts so much like Koda when he was her age! They both drink the same way (very messy), they both talk, and they are both total lovers. She seems to jump and bite a bit more than he did, but I think she'll learn soon enough that that's not ok. She caught on very quickly how to sit and wait for her food. I just added "lay down" into that mix and she does great at it!

Koda loves having her around! At first he was hesitant, but after a few days they were sharing the dog bed and playing non stop. Koda has been a wonderful big brother. They wrestle together and run around the backyard. She mostly tucks and rolls when Koda comes flying by her, but as she grows she'll be able to stand her ground. We love watching them interact. Though Koda could probably break her with one snap of his jaw, he gets down to her level and plays just gentle enough that he doesn't hurt her. We've even seen times where he literally tries to tell her what's not ok to do. For example, she started to get into some tissue paper yesterday. Koda did his low rumble "talking" and seemed to be telling her, "That's a bad idea."

We also noticed that sometimes Koda needs his "me" time. He gladly goes and lies down in his crate for a while until he is ready to be around her again. Even though Mika can get on all of our nerves sometimes, Koda has been much more happy and less stressed since we got her. And we've enjoyed having a soft puppy around again. They both bring us joy and we love them very much. They are our "children" and we are grateful to have them.

Our "wise raccoon"

Monday, May 9, 2011