A Guinny Day

Kevin has awakened me from a sound sleep at 6:15 for two mornings! He got in bed with me, but a 75 pound dog wanted to cuddle on TOP of a 44 pound boy. In fact, he insisted!!! So, we gave Guinness his breakfast and took him outside. After Kevin had breakfast, he pulled out a puzzle of the states. We spent a long time with that, learning about geography, and talking about some of the pictures on each state.

Kevin's puzzle ability continues to amaze me. Yesterday, we did a cube puzzle that makes 6 very similar Bambi puzzles -- each of the 6 faces of the cube is a part of one of the 6 puzzles. Man! That is way too difficult for me, but Kevin had minimal trouble. Today's puzzle was more "normal," yet his way of finding connecting pieces is by shape, not the way I do it: by the objects or color on the puzzle piece.

Daddy appeared and we talked about where I drove coming here, the routes they took to FL last month and to TX in January. Daddy showed us the route he took to cross the country on his motorcycle from CA to PA many years ago. Then we counted the states Kevin has been in. At 5 years old, he as been in 12 states plus 7 countries!!!

Guinness was getting antsy, so we took him outside again with Kevin holding the leash. We walked around the yard, then Kevin ventured into the woods behind their house ending up in the meadow. I had no camera to capture the adorable boy with his straight, blonde hair flopping up and down with each step holding Guinness's leash and running through the field. The proverbial scene of a boy and his dog!

As we sat down for lunch, we noted that James was sitting in the middle of the family room floor while Guinness, lying beside the kitchen table, seemed to be unaware of him. Ever since we arrived, the cats have stayed in the sunroom glaring at Guinness who would bark at them through the door wanting to meet them. After lunch, we all went into the family room. James arched his back and hissed at Guinness. Guinness honored James' request for space. James settled on the sofa while Guinness sat on the floor eyeing this cute fluffy creature.



When Guinness would move, he would walk behind the rocking chair to keep as much space as possible between himself and James. James had managed to eek out a place for himself in his own house which had been interloped by this big dog.

Since arriving, Guinness has been playing his normal game of reverse retrieves. His specialty in Kevin's house is grabbing one of the stuffed animals. He swiped a tubular neck pillow intended for a tiny tot, but it made a great tug toy. Kevin had great fun pulling Guinness around the house with that neck pillow as a tug toy.




This afternoon, we found a box on the front porch addressed to me from Greg and Cathi. Kevin helped me open it -- a Guardian angel. I immediately said, "It looks like your Mommy." He agreed, and was quite upset when he realized it was not for him. We set it on the kitchen island under the red roses from Grampy. Later, I noted that he had placed a Christmas angel, which represents Mommy to him, beside it.