darn you solomon, quit being adorable

Those of you i've talked to lately know this, but solomon's been really driving me up a wall lately. he seems to have gotten a little clutsy and has given me a bruise or tripped me accidentally, which is not that big of a deal, but mostly, when seb comes home from being gone all day or especially overnight, the dog is rediculously annoying. basically, he's gone into daddy-withdrawal, and so when seb FINALLY comes back, thinks that all seb's attention should be devoted to him. being seb's wife, i tend to have a problem with this. it's not that sol wants seb's attention that's the real problem, it's how he tries to get it... getting in between me and seb, whining loudly and endlessly when seb is talking to me or snuggling me or hugging me. it gets to the point where you can't have a conversation because he's too loud for you to hear each other. he also broke the screen door lunging at a bird outside (something's got to make up for the lack of squirrels) and we still haven't broken his habit of scratching up the carpet while we're gone.

so, i'm not mean to him, but i'm usually in a constant state of semi-irritation. i know it's not really his fault, he's just a dog, but still. so it is especially obnoxious when he does those solly-things that are completely endearing and prevent me from staying mad. this picture is one example, he loves the cats, and is always trying to play with and snuggle them.


but what really gets me is when he does something deliberate that shows his personality. i gave him a rawhide yesterday for actually NOT scratching the carpet for once, and this morning after coming down and doing our morning routine, he went upstairs to get it (knowing what he wanted, remembering it was upstairs) and brought it down. he sat down to gnaw, but then paused, and went to his toy basket. i had picked up his toys and put them back to vaccuum, but he always knows where his toys are. the thing is, he went and got one of his favorites, a half deflated giant tennis ball, and brought it back near to me, and put it down. then he went back, got his other favorite toy, a new tug toy, and set it about a foot away from the ball. then he went and got his rawhide, came back, and sat down so he was chewing his rawhide with his head smack between his two favorite toys. it reminded me of a picture of me watching sesame street surrounded by my collection of dozens of stuffed animals. he didn't want to play with them, but he wanted to be surrounded by them while he enjoyed his 'hide. oh well, guess he wins this round.