Little Miss Lola...

Should have called her Ermintrude :-))  That's who she reminds me of in this shot, with whatever plant that is she has in her mouth!

Lola has a new trick.  She can now get on and off the garden furniture as ably demonstrated here.  No sitting on the damp grass for her, oh no, a garden chair is much more befitting a little Lady.  There are usually cushions on there but they've been put away till next spring.  Will be fun to get her to sit in the same position then and see how much she has grown. 

There was more barking at bedtime last night but we ignored her and it stopped.  She woke us with her barking at 7.15am.  Result :-))  Out to do her business and back in for breakfast. 

She has also taken herself to her crate three times today to actually sleep.  Normally she's in and out of it regularly but more for a rest or if something noisy is happening, but today she went in for proper naps.  Now it may be coincidence, but I actually think the ignoring her barking at night has got something to do with that.  Another baby step forward :-)

Feel I've not achieved much today (because I haven't.)  Looked at my to do list numerous times but just couldn't sum up any enthusiasm.   Did book my Tesco delivery for the weekend and decide what to have for dinner on Saturday night (there will be four, possibly five of us) but need to work out the rest of what's needed for the weekend.   Can't think about it too much as I can feel my stress levels rising.  I have a vision of Lola spending the whole weekend sitting staring at the back door with intermittent barking and whining for David to come back.   David and Kenny are leaving to go the the airport at 4am on Friday morning.  The chances of them doing that without disturbing Lola are nil, so I expect the barking will start then.

Alan has a dental check up tomorrow that David will take him to so Alan's support worker Ashleigh will stay with me to help with Lola.  Lola seems to get quite hyper around Ashleigh so it will be an interesting couple of hours.

Ironically, Lola is both the cause and cure of my rising stress level.  

On the one hand there will be her pining for David, but on the other, there's a lovely little routine that has developed where she comes to me around 11am and again at 10pm and wants up on my knee for cuddles.  It's become the highlight of my day.  She snuggles in and gazes up at me and as I run my hands through her soft coat and tickle behind her ears and under her chin, I feel the stress drain away.  Sheer perfection.