The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
I’ve had to do some fairly improbable and illogical things since becoming a parent but tonight must stand out so far.
I went to check in on Bean because we generally need to dig him out of a mountain of books, stuffed toys and blankets at this time of night.
Except that tonight, I couldn’t find him. It took about 30 seconds of frantic searching to find him sound asleep … under his bed. I had to get a flashlight and pull him out from under the bed by his feet. He barely woke up.
Random child.
We went to see Avenue Q in Cambridge last night and had Becky watch the bean while we were out.
While she was revising for her exams, she had a hot chocolate, two bags of crisp, half a large bag of chocolate mini eggs and a pot of custard.
If I had that now, I’d die from the sugar rush. Getting old sucks.
As a side note, that girl is going to break hearts, if she’s not already doing so. There are worse things to be than young, blonde, smart and good looking. Also, I feel like the proverbial dirty old man.
Good news, Tolstoy is past cage rest and has been running around the house for the past few days and seems to be a lot better for it. Both cats were beating the stuffing out of each other while they were roughhousing last night, so things are getting back to normal.
Bad news, we had to give Annie back to the breeder. She wasn’t settling down well – she was quite jumpy and wasn’t coping well with Ben. She growled at him on a few occasions, mostly when she was trying to sleep and Bean wouldn’t let her be. It wasn’t really her fault, but it’s hard to explain things to a two year old. We tried, we really did, but the final strike against her staying was when she peed in the house in front of Tolstoy’s cage and then snapped at Katy when she tried to get her off the couch to put her outside. If Annie wasn’t going to respect the pecking order with Katy, she probably wouldn’t either with Bean, and that’s a risk we weren’t willing to take. It was the right decision to do, for the right reasons, but it still sucks. If Bean has been a bit older, things probably would have gone much more smoothly but live and learn. We’re going to try again when Bean is a bit older, and this time we’ll get a puppy, so that way it’ll know its place from the start. Jane, the breeder, was really understanding and good about it. She was disappointed – we all were – because all this acting out is out of character for Annie. Still, we weren’t comfortable with the situation anymore. It would only take one wrong moment for something regrettable to happen and it’s not worth the risk.
Speaking of Bean, he seems to be getting over his cold and is getting his appetite back. This is good. He’s also becoming a pain in the ass with all the tantrums. This is less good. Hopefully, this too shall pass. He’s getting bigger – and heavy to carry on my shoulders for the bus in the mornings. We bought him some bigger clothes and we got some new dig dig curtains and wall canvases for his room from Next (courtesy of a bank transfer from my mom).
It’s Easter weekend, and the folks are here. Mel and Katy are currently outside assembling parts of the slide/swing set we bought Bean for xmas. Things seem to be going well, but I’m sure they’d go even better if there was light out.
I treated myself today and made chicken wings. They were really nice, but they’re a damn pain in the ass to make. There’s a reason why I only break out the deep fryer once or twice a year. I also made shish-kebabs with marinated pork loin, peppers and mushrooms on the BBQ. Very nice! It reminded me of all the times I went to Alouette Steak House with Michel when I still in Montreal. The good news is that the pork loins were going for cheap at Tesco so I bought two. I just need to get some more skewers and a new bottle of gas and we’re good to BBQ again. That’s mainly the plan for this weekend. Cook. Eat. Build Swing. Cook. Eat. Paint Fence. Cook. Eat. Eat. Eat. Toss in lots of drinking in there as well and a side-trip to Scottsdales and it should hopefully be a nice weekend, if the weather cooperates.
So, first off, Tolstoy is starting to feel better after being a very sick boy. He went downhill very quickly two weeks ago and, after several tests and a week’s stay at the vet, they diagnosed pancreatitis. He also had a bout of E.Coli and some anemia. Fun stuff. The good news is that symptomatic treatment has been effective and, after having had cage rest for the past two weeks, he seems to be perking up. The bad news, as it were, is that in the course of diagnosing the pancreatitis, the vets discovered that he’s had a herniated diaphragm as a result of being hit by a car two years ago. Part of his liver and spleen have herniated into his chest and that’s compromised his lung capacity and constricted his heart. All of which can be rather, well, fatal and needs immediate attention.
It’s a weird situation. He was fine, and could very well stay fine for years, until he’s not. Then he’s dead. To avoid this, he’s going under the knife tomorrow. The vets wanted to make sure that he’s gotten over his previous malaise before they operated. He’s a lot better now, but he’s still not out of the woods yet. Because the hernia’s been around for so long, there is the possibility of nasty complications. He’s in good hands, and we’ll find out how things went tomorrow. Poor little guy. He’s not even 5 and will have had two major surgeries and a minor one. Yay, insurance…
On a more positive note, we went to visit Annie this weekend. Bean’s very excited about the prospects of getting his dog. Everybody at nursery knows the name of *his* dog :)
She’s really good about not pulling on the leads, so when we went for a walk, we were only loosely holding on to the middle of the lead while Bean was trotting along behind Annie. It was a case of not being sure who was walking who :)
We had very nice visit of Cambria Farm, which is run by a lovely lady called Jane Wilton-Clark. She runs a rare-breed pig farm that produces some truly excellent pig products. We bought some sausages and patties and had some for lunch when we came back. YUMMAY! Definitively have again, and driving back there with Annie will give us an excuse to go visit and buy some more :)
Speaking of food, I made a lasagna and a roast chicken, neither of which I’d done in a very long time – both of which were very good and therefore must re-enter the rotation of weekend dishes. Note to self.
We thought long and hard and we’ve asked the breeder if we can adopt Annie.
It might be a few days of fun while everybody, especially the cats, get used to each other but we think we’re up for the challenge. She’s a really gorgeous girl and she seems very sweet-natured. Hopefully all will go well. Watch this space.
We just found bean sleeping in a nest of toys and blankets, on the floor in the doorway if his room. Again.
He just grabs everything off his bed, piles it in the floor and just falls asleep…
Most Saturdays, when we’re in town, we go to the market and stop by the butcher. Bean just loves him. Actually, he has a thing for the Tesco butcher as well but our local one is his bestest pal in the whole wide world. We also get some sausages from a local producer called The Giggly Pig. Bean is a sausage addict and would clean out all of the sample plates if we let him. Generally, we share a sausage bap but today the sausage lady became his BFF when she gave him his own sausage out of the blue.
Local markets rock.
So do sausages.
After much discussion, we moved Bean into his first big-boy bed. His previous cot was getting too small. We went go IKEA and bought a bed that would fit the room and Mel gave me a hand to put up a stairgate upstairs last weekend. Katy was feeling crappy yesterday so I had to stay home and mind the bean. We figured it was as good a time as any. Setting up the bed was easy but required an emergency trip to IKEA to buy bed slats on which to put the mattress. We didn’t realize that they weren’t included and nobody mentioned the fact. That was nice, and we spent an extra 20 quid of petrol to buy a 10 quid part.
Bedtime went smoother than I expected and he only messed around two or three times before just settling himself down and going through the night. He did wake up at 6:30 this morning though and, since he’s now unfettered by bars, he wanted out of his room.
He’s now tired and extremely feeble in the most annoying way. He’s been uber-feeble for the last few days, but this is taking it to new hights. I love my bean but if he doesn’t stop flapping and yelling at me for food food and chocolate biscuits, I’ll either kill him or myself…
We generally check in on bean before going to bed. Tonight, when Katy went in, she asked me if I was aware that he’d taken off his top. I wasn’t and, on further reflection, I remembered that we put him to bed in a one piece sleepsuit. I went back into the nursery and did a quick check of my own. Lo and behold, doofus was sleeping on his tummy, butt naked after managing to take off not only his suit but also his nappy! Katy dressed him back up while I changed an unfortunately damp bed. Still, he seemed so chuffed with himself :)
Interesting way to start thr year…
