Hailey the miraculous flying wonder dog

This morning our dog Hailey took a terrifying 5-meter plunge from the second story of a parking garage.  All I heard was a quick yelp.  I dashed to the ledge from which she leaped with my heart pounding.  By the time I got to look down over the ledge she was already milling around on the grass below, looking up at me and wondering what was taking me so long to take her on a walk.  She's totally fine.  I still can't believe it.  I forced Greta to wait while I took some pictures of the scene.

Haily took a Peter-Pan from the second floor.  As you can see, it's a good fifteen feet above the ground. 

The view from the ledge.  This is what Hailey saw as she plunged to the earth below.

The view from inside the parking garage.  I stood there watching dumbly while my dog ran full speed up to this ledge, leaped up on top and dove off without a care in the world.

New homemade sleeper from gramma G

Jean painstakingly sewed Max a brand new sleeper made out of fleece, complete with zipper and foot pads.  It's very well made and very warm.  Jean was afraid it wouldn't fit, but as you can see Max has room yet to fill.

Max meets cousin Anne for the first time

Greta, Max, and I made the trek to Ottawa this weekend.  We just returned home now and we're exhausted.  We spent the nights at Lee and Sandi's house.  They were gracious enough to feed us delicious meals and to dogsit for us while we visited Sue, Jeff, and twelve-day-old baby Anne during the days.  All they asked in return was a little Kaiser and some baby-in-a-hot-tub.  We were happy to oblige.

Sue and Jeff seem to be doing very well for new parents.  I can now corroborate other eye-witness accounts of Anne's perfection.  She's so TINY!  Compared to her, Max is HUGE!

I managed to snap some neat photos of Max using Sue's shiny whizz-bang camera, some of which are included below.  You should really view all 28 of the best photos by clicking this link.  Unfortunately, I failed to get any photos of the two babies together (or of anyone else, for that matter).

Baby Anne, pictured here in traditional Jedi robes.

Max with mom and aunt Sue.  Anne is in this picture -- she's inside that little green sack hanging from Sue's shoulders.

Max kissing a neighbourhood cat.  How cute is that?

Max "masters" potty at a young age

Gus and I have started potty training Max.  I just finished reading a book that suggests our society potty trains children way to late.  We've had Max on the potty from the very beginning, but we decided to take on the task with a little more determination.  The book recommends moving your child from diapers to underwear at age 1 and then making regular trips to the potty.    It offers a number of solutions to help your child enjoy time spent on the potty, including reading books and playing while you are using it.

In our case, the advice may be working too well.  Max loves the potty.  He sits on it happily and hands you book after book out of his book bin.  In most cases, he fails to actually let you read the book, unless it is the one where you make the chimpanzee noise.  Roughly 2/3rds of the time he bestows a pee upon the potty and everyone rejoices.  He is very interested in this event and stares intently between his legs into the depths of the potty to see if anything is there.  Much to our distress, if he cannot see well enough, he will reach in to see if he can feel anything.

The potty training book claims that your child will need to pee every 2 or 3 hours.  I don't know what 1-year olds she had, but ours goes roughly every 20 minutes.  I've become convinced that he is just rationing his pee for more potty opportunities.  Who knew potty training could work too well?

Now playing: Max walks

Some family members ( I will not point fingers, but some of them have alternative superhero identities) have demanded video proof that Max is walking.  Here it is.  I think this one will be a block buster.

Max's first haircut: don't quit your day job, daddy

Dad gave Max his first haircut today despite fierce resistance from mommy.  Grampa Gutoski will undoubtedly be very happy.

Max sat obediently watching his puppet show on TV while I snipped away.  Occasionally he would grow more interested in what I was doing than what the puppets on TV were doing, at which times cutting his hair became impossible and I had to wait until the TV had regained his interest to continue.  We didn't get any pictures of the actual cutting -- it was a delicate enough maneuver without the added worry of photography.

Not too bad, if I do say so myself.  Perhaps I won't quit my day job (whatever that is).

It's a girl! Say hello to Anne, Max's first Gutoski cousin (now with pic)

Sue gave birth this morning at 2:30am.  "Gulliver," as she was prone to call her fetus, is female and has been renamed Anne.  Mother and baby are both doing well.  Tom and Jean arrived in Ottawa at 4am, just in time to catch a first glimpse at the baby.  I have it on more than one account that she's perfect.  Max now has a Gutoski cousin to go along with his eight James cousins.  Congratulations!