Our Simonaversary

Perhaps you remember this post from a little over a year ago.

So it has been just over a year since Simon joined our household.  He has adpated well to the craziness of living with us.  The children still bemoan the fact that he feels he must sit as close to me as possible when we are just hanging around the house, but they have gotten used to it.  I think Simon thinks he is just another one of the kids–the most special one who must always be by Mommy.  He and Charis have had their tossels as they both jockey for position.  In the end, though, I think Simon has learned that he is #5 in the pecking order of children (the rest come in no particular order of course, ahem  . . .)

So raise your coffee cup to our first year with Simon.  He has been a happy (albeit sometimes smelly) addition to the family.

7 thoughts on “Our Simonaversary”

  1. Happy Simon Day! He sure is a cute little guy. I am certain Lucy would love to play with him, though I don’t know if he’d share her sentiments given he is an older, wiser (read “calmer”) gentleman.

  2. You know I am not a “dog person,” but I will testify that Simon is both cute and well-behaved. Since he is rather small I probably expected him to act more like a puppy.

  3. hey, just a question: do y’all keep Simon’s coat clipped short, or is that how his hair grows naturally?? Since he is a Cockapoo (I think?) I expected him to have longer fur…but I may be wrong on this assumption.

  4. Tricia,

    He has long shaggy hair right now. We like to get him clipped like in the picture about every six weeks because he smells better. But with the cold of winter and trying to save some $$, we are holding off on getting him clipped. We may wait until as late as March because I have started bathing him at home to deal with the smell, and, since he doesn’t go outside as much in winter, he doesn’t smell as much anyway. I also was able to trim his hair over his eyes when I bathed him, so that takes care of another reason I like to get him groomed–so he can see. I really like him with his curly shaggy look better, so the new arrangement has several benefits. Finally, the last grooming he had led to a trip to the vet as the groomer shaved his neck too close and caused him to scratch up his neck until it bled. The vet had to put him on prednisone to stop the itching so he wouldn’t scratch.

    Now, how’s your back?

  5. Hey Jennifer,

    Simon is very cute. The puppy cut is nice for ease of care, but i am sorry he got nicked and then had more problems, poor doggie. I think the longer hair is probably very nice looking, you should post a pic when you get a chance, so we can all see his “new do”!!!

    we used to take Lucy to Dirty Dawgs and bathe her there, (MUCH easier on the back when we use their raised tubs, etc) but a few months ago decided to save the money ($15) and instead let Abigail/Jonathan be the bathers. They earn a little bit of pocket money ($3 each) and they do a GREAT JOB!!

    My back is much better, thank you. I know you have had troubles wtih this in the past. Now i can say that I GREATLY sympathize!! While i have had issues since college after too long vacuuming, or mopping floors, this last episode was so much worse than anything I’ve ever experienced.

    now I am being more proactively careful than in the past. the one activity i can point to which likely exacerbated the problem is that I have spent more time at my kitchen computer with h-sing for a variety of reasons: spreadsheets for weekly schedules, searching and puting library books on reserve for history, lit, etc. our kitchen setup is terrible for posture and back issues. we need to reevaluate and see what we can do to improve it. also i think i have just gotten lazy about keeping my tummy muscles pulled in (which i used to do all the time but for whatever reason had stopped) which is a great way to help strengthen lower back muscles too. Hopefully, caring for it better may help prevent such problems in the future.

  6. Tricia,

    Glad your back is better. I hope you are able to keep it in good shape. I am sure your efforts to take care of it will be beneficial.

    Your new dog is cute. I think her face looks more like our Simon than Spencer’s, and she seems a lot bigger from the pictures with the kids. I guess Cotons can range in size, or maybe she is smaller than she appears? How much does she weigh. Simon weighs 30 (He is supposed to weigh 25.) I would guess Spencer weighs less than 15. Anyway, ShaSha is very cute, and I am sure having her around will make your home more “fun!” 🙂

    I think we will be bathing smelly Simon today. Perhaps Calvin will get his chance to help, and he can take over this chore.

  7. hi again. Cotons can range in size. Spencer has a puppy cut so he looks a bit different than our little furball. Sasha is only 18 pounds, but her fur does make her look bigger. Cotons don’t usually get bigger than 15, but her owner said she is a bit on the large side for the breed. She also said she could stand to lose a couple of pounds. We liked that she was a bit big for a Coton given our other dog is 50 lbs, it seemed a bit more balanced, though we DID specifically target a small second dog and one that was hypoallergenic.

    here’s a little backstory on Sasha/Shasha: we’ve kicked around the idea of another dog for a while…our older 3 kids do 90% of the work to care for Lucy now: feed, bathe, and pick up the yard almost all on their own. they have been wanting a smaller cuddly dog for some time in addition to Miss Lucy. Jay has hoped for another cat someday and finally realized he cannot do it with his allergies, and switched to searching for a “lapdog” instead.

    we honed in on Cotons b/c of their wonderful reputations as sweet family dogs, playful natures, adaptability, and non shedding tendencies. been to visit a few little dogs (including a Bichon mix) that have not worked out for one reason or another. with no income though we would not have moved on one had not my folks sent us some Cmas money to use for a family gift of our choosing. this dog’s fee was the same as we’d have paid for a rescue/adoption through the scpa/other groups, plus we get the comfort of knowing she came from a good loving background, etc. we feel like we got a great deal what is looking like an ideal family pet.

Leave a Reply to jennifer Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *