It’s hard to believe my little Margot turned 6 months-old last week! This morning, she came into the bathroom with me for the first time since she was a tiny puppy and I used to keep her in the bathroom with me while I got ready for work. I couldn’t resist taking a photo of her sitting on the bathroom floor like I used to back then, but when I compared her 6 week-old photo to today’s 6 month-old photo, my heart broke a little. She’s gotten so big!
I know that people like to say that they wish they could keep their dogs as puppies forever, and I do agree with that sentiment somewhat, but I have to say that I also love watching Margot grow up. I’m just so proud of her for being such a sweet and relatively behaved girl (you know, for a puppy). The only non-toy thing she has ever chewed and/or destroyed in my house since we first brought her home was the cord to my disco ball, and she just did that within the last month. I wasn’t paying attention because I was busy stringing some Christmas lights. I thought Margot was chewing on one of her toys on the floor beside me, but it turned out she had gotten hold of the cord to my beloved disco ball, which I always use during my annual Christmas parties each year. I was disappointed in her for chewing through the cord because, like I said, she’s never done that before, but of all the things she could have destroyed at least the disco ball wasn’t a huge loss. I’m still not sure what made her decide to try chewing on a cord instead of her usual toys, though, because she has always been perfectly happy destroying her own stuff. People may think Justin and I spoil Margot by constantly buying her chew toys and stuffed animals, but I honestly believe that’s the main reason why she’s never chewed on our shoes, furniture, or anything else in the house….besides that one darn cord.
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| 6 weeks vs. 6 months |
I will say, though, that lately Margot has been more focused on purposefully destroying her toys, especially stuffed animals and balls, rather than playing with them. It’s like tearing apart every new toy she gets as quickly as she can is her #1 main goal. If you give her a tennis ball, the first thing she wants to do is pull all of the fuzz off the ball with her teeth. Then, she will work on chewing the ball with her very back teeth until she finally punctures it. Finally, she will use her paws to hold the ball while she rips the rubber into pieces with her teeth. She will even pick up the pieces of rubber and chew on them like they’re chewing gum, but I try to throw them all away before she starts doing that because I don’t want her to actually eat the ball or choke.
With stuffed animals, the first thing she wants to do is find the squeaker and remove it, which is funny because she always seems so disappointed when her toy won’t squeak anymore. Once the squeaker is removed, then it’s time to remove all of the stuffing. When the animal is no longer stuffed, no longer squeaks, and is merely a limp piece of cloth, you’d think she’d be done, but oh no! Not Margot the Destroyer! At that point, she will hold the cloth between her paws and pull it apart with her teeth until my floor is covered in hundreds of little threads. It’s a mess to clean up, and every time I pick up the carnage that was once one of Margot’s toys, she always looks at me like, “Hey! That’s mine!”
I recently discovered a baseball while I was getting my house ready for our Christmas party, so I decided to give it to Margot to see if she’d like it. I thought, no way could she destroy a real baseball as quickly as she destroys her dog toys, and if nothing else it would give her something to work on for a few days. Within just about an hour, though, Margot came running up to me with a completely bald baseball in her mouth! I could not believe that she managed to remove the stitched leather from around the baseball’s core in such a short amount of time!
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| I love Margot's yawns. |
As far as actually playing ball in the house goes, Margot does like for us to throw the ball for her, but she’s not very good at giving it back. In fact, she’s pretty awful at it. She will bring the ball back to us after we’ve thrown it, but she always stops right in front of me or Justin and just stares at us with the ball in her mouth. If we reach for it, she backs away, as if she wants us to try and take it from her. If we ignore her, she will bring the ball closer and sometimes even put it in our laps or touch our hands with it, but she never actually releases the ball. As soon as we try to grab it, she turns and runs away. If we REALLY ignore her attempts to get our attention with the ball, she will eventually release the ball either right beside us or on our laps. However, again, if we try to grab it, she will attempt to snatch it away from us first.
The funniest thing is whenever we are able to get the ball from Margot and throw it into another room, if the ball rolls underneath the Christmas tree, under a table or chair, or into an area that is surrounded by other things, Margot will not even try to get the ball. Even if it is easily accessible, she will look right at it and whine, then stare at us until one of us gets the ball for her. Sometimes it’s really funny, but sometimes it’s very frustrating, especially when we’re busy and there’s no good reason why she can’t get the ball herself. It’s like she’s afraid to even try, which neither of us understand.
As for the Christmas party I have mentioned a few times already, we had a great time this year, as always, and Margot was a big hit with my guests. She was very well behaved, especially around the food, although she and Sam did have to be told to stay away from the food table once or twice. After a couple of hours of mingling with all my friends, Margot and Sam decided to just curl up on the couch together like it was a regular night at home, which melted everyone’s hearts. In fact, at the end of the night, we all voted for partygoer superlatives, and I was tickled when one of the ballots for Cutest Couple was filled out for Sam and Margot.
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| Family Portrait |
Justin and I tried to get a family picture taken with the girls earlier in the evening, and while it isn’t technically the best photo (bad focus is one of my major pet peeves), I still think it’s pretty cute. My friends were obviously holding treats behind the camera to get Margot and Sam’s attention. Oh, and please note that Margot is now officially taller than Sam.
*sigh* Seriously, where has the time gone?!?!
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