Birthdays

Today Indy is 6 months old (and Rebecca is 28 years old, no big deal.) We did a lot to celebrate both of these milestones. Rebecca got tastes from home with a Legal Seafood delivery (Thanks, Keith!) Since we're going to celebrate Christmas in Boston, Keith gave her her big Christmas present on her birthday.... a Chromebook! (Rebecca is just a little excited about her new toy...)

For Indy's celebration of 6 months, we had been giving him a treat a night (a la Chanukah even though it hasn't started yet. ) For his 6 month celebration, we gave him his two holidays presents that Rebecca had knit. Like his Schadler cousin, Indy is proven himself to be a destroyer. Within minutes, Indy destroyed both of his new knit toys. (Somehow the ball he received months ago is still intact... we think the lesson is to only give Indy FELTED knit toys.)

Rebecca thinks she will felt these toys so they will still be fun to play with... even if they will no longer have their cute shapes!

As Indy gets older he is learning many impressive things, like how to quickly destroy knit toys or ring the bell to go outside. One thing he recently learned was how to jump onto the bed. Its pretty impressive considering the bed is taller than him. However, he has not learned how to get down. Frequently he is overzealous and leaps up only to immediately realize that he doesn't want to be there. It is a common occurrence to hear him barking from across the apartment and enter the bedroom to find him stranded on the bed looking expectantly for us to carry him down. Or perhaps he has just trained us very well in getting him down.

At 6 months, Indy is pretty well behaved. He isn't biting at us as often, and he is having less accidents in the house. His biggest issues are loose leash walking (he will pull and start breathing funny from the effort) and jealousy. Indy gets along well with other dogs, but does NOT like it when another dog tries to get into Rebecca's lap. The two times this has happened, Indy has let out the only real growls we've ever heard. The first time happened with Ella from his class, and the second time happened with the new 10 week old puppy in our building (Kasey just put a paw on her leg, and Indy freaked out.) Thankfully, Indy didn't scare Kasey, and they seemed to be totally enamored with each other... as long as Kasey stays away from Indy's mommy.

One of Indy's favorite new toys is a frog. He has been carrying it around everywhere!

Rebecca made Indy a "cake" (it is really more of a pudding) to celebrate his big day:

• Layer of pumpkin and bananas
• sprinkled with dog food (he needs his nutrition after all, and he is getting this instead of dinner)
  
  
• more bananas and dog food
  
  
• Stripes of peanut butter and pumpkin
  
  
• More bananas
  
  
• Topped with whipped cream and chereos
  

Of course Indy loved this treat, but this is the first time we have combined many of his favorite things all in one bowl.

Many good things have been happening in our lives, but this week has been a hard one for Rebecca. This past weekend, her Grandma Julia passed away. Julia had a long life, but it is still hard to say goodbye to someone you loved so much. It is much easier to think back on fun times. The following picture is 10 years old, but it is one of Rebecca's favorite pictures with Grandma:

Rebecca and her female cousins in 2002.

ChemKnits has had some exciting news. Rebecca was invited to contribute some of her molecule knitting charts to an exhibit running at Williams Center for the Arts Gallery at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania between Jan 8 - Feb 5, 2012!

In the new year, we will be sharing more adorable Indy videos so you can get your cute fix.