Happy December!

It's the first day of December and the first chilly day of the season in Jacksonville. Sam went to the vet this afternoon to get his ears checked again (Sam's got major allergies that give him rashes/runny noses/itchy paws/goopy ears), and he's currently weighing in at a whopping 99.4 pounds. That means if he grows another half pound, he'll hit triple digits!

Speaking of which, I didn't get any responses for the weight guessing game, so I'll just guess on my own. I'm pretty sure this is one of those things where I think it's way more interesting than readers do. I'm guessing Sam will be somewhere around 103 pounds by January 9, and I think he'll end up in the 105-110 range once he stops growing. A respectable size for a rhino, I think.

Sam also went to week two of puppy school tonight, and did well as always. It's technically not puppy school anymore, since it's an advanced obedience class, but Sam's still a puppy so I'm calling it puppy school. At the beginning and end of class he got off-leash playtime with his classmate Cooper, a golden retriever, and Sam had a blast. You could definitely tell it was a relief for him to play with another dog that wouldn't break as easily as Marcus does if you step on him. Which Sam does. Often.

Speaking of Marcus, he spent a good ten minutes running up to where Sam was sitting with me on the couch, crouching down and barking, then taking off and sprinting around the living room, circling back to the couch, and repeating the entire process. Sam just cocked his head and stared at him as though thinking, "What on earth is this weird squirrel up to now?" Eventually Marcus got tired of trying to make Sam chase him and jumped up next to him on the couch--at which point Sam promptly sat on him, and Marcus was lost to the bowels of the couch until I could move Sam and pull up the cushion to save him.

No pictures today unfortunately--I know, posts with words instead of pictures are such a drag--but school will be over for me by this time next week and I promise to do some serious holiday blogging during winter break. After all, it'll be the boys' first Christmas! I made them stockings last week and they'll be hung over the fireplace this weekend for Santa to fill with rawhides and squeaky toys. Christmas is only 24 days away! Happy holidays!