We were just out and Rusty walked down the final flight of stairs. I started him on the second flight and showed him how to use his legs to get down. He was not happy about it, it was a bit scary going forward like he was going to fall and every step he went down, he turned and went back up again. But after a few minutes he realized he could do and then he just went on down on his own.
Yesterday was a frustrating day. We went to our appointment in Stockholm and when we got there, we were told the woman we were to see had gone to the ER and since it was she we needed to talk to, we would have to rebook. Apparently they tried to call but we were already enroute, so we left a mobile #. She did call later in the day and offered up a time at 1300 today. I was really upset because not only have we waited a while to see her, I missed the school trip for no reason.
So Ibo dropped me home and went back to work, I took Rusty out for a nice walk, then took Susan out. We played some when we were out, that was fun.
I went in the afternoon and picked up LL and we hurried home to take out Rusty again. I had picked up a package on my way to his school, ink for the colour printer so we printed out a few pictures for him to take to school. By then Ibo was done work and we had decided to have pizza for dinner, so we went out to meet him in the parking lot. While we waiting I remembered that I had asked him to pick up puppy food on his way home, from the store near his job. So I phoned him and he had the nerve to hang up on my call! *laugh* He called back in a couple minutes and said that he was still at work, had been sidetracked on the way out and was leaving right then. I reminded him about the puppy food and he said we could take Rusty along with us to the pet store. LL then decided he was going to stay home because it was Bolibompa time and so we left Susan with him and asked him to play with her a bit without Rusty butting into their play. It feels a bit that both of them are being shunted aside with Rusty wanting and needing attention. So they had fun, we went and got food for Rusty and our pizzas and then came home. He was exhausted by the trip, was fine on the way to the store, but threw up on the way home, poor little guy.
We had planned on taking him out somewhere to work on basic commands, away from Susan and other distractions, but with Ibo leaving work late an our trip to the store, it just did not happen. I will work with him a bit later again and I think I will take both of them for a walk to the sport field. It is too funny that Rusty follows Susan when we call her (not unexpected of course) but Susan also follows Rusty when we call him.
Here is a picture of our exhausted little puppy after he discovered he could get up on the foot stool and then into Ibo’s lap.
Today was a lovely, warm, sunny day. I took LL out to fika in the late afternoon, so he would not feel left out. We had not been to fika since school started for him, since now he comes home after 1600 and it is too close to dinner time to fika. I had him come on an earlier bus today and took him with me. He really enjoyed that but was glad that he can take the late bus tomorrow because he likes fritids. *laugh*
It was a lovely sunny day today. School went well, wrote a math test for placement, there were two algebra questions I just did not get but otherwise it went well. I was done at 1320 but couldn’t pick up LL till 1600 so I did some food shopping and got more tick medicine for Susan.
Ibo came home at lunch and spent some time with the dogs. We just close up all the rooms except the living room and kitchen and it seems to be going well. LL and I got home at 1700 and they were fine, the newspaper at the door was dry, nothing was chewed or pulled down. I took Rusty out first, then I took out Susan, made dinner and then after Ibo went off to a meeting and while LL was watching Bolibompa, I took Rusty for a walk and then we played for a half hour in the dog run area here. He seemed to have fun, loped around a lot, chased a ball and then we walked back home. He is much better about walking with me now, doesn’t sit down and refuse to go on anymore. *laugh* He is listening better, gets down when we say down, gets away from Susan’s bowl when we say no. He is such a proud little guy when we praise him and we do it often. He will definitely be a bilingual dog, since I speak english and tell him what a good boy he is and Ibo speaks swedish and tells him how “duktig” he is. We are pretty consistent with the word no though, much like I always have spoken english to LL except for the word “försiktig” instead of careful because it was an important word for him to know and he was more likely to hear it in swedish in an emergency type situation.
Tomorrow is a school trip to Mariefred but I am not going. We have an appointment in the morning and since it was a long wait for the time, I just did not want to change it. Gripsholm Castle will just have to remain on my list of castles to see, for a while longer. LL will be going swimming with his class, he is looking forward to that.
Sadly I forgot to take along the camera today when I was out with Rusty so there are no new pictures. Hopefully I will get some tomorrow evening when we go for a walk.
School started today. We dropped the kidlet off at St: G’s, then I got off at the busstation in Sigtuna and Ibo came home. I trained for an hour, then headed to school. Ibo was home till 10ish with Rusty. It was a fun school start, our class has 40 something students, about 1/2 of us are new. One of the new students was a woman I saw on the bus a lot last year, since she was dropping off and picking up kids at Josephina school. So I went and introduced myself to her and we had a great chat … about Canada, where she spent part of the summer visiting relatives. *laugh*
Ibo’s parents came in at 1230 and took the dogs out and then we were home at 1530 and I took them out again. Rusty seems to have been fine, although we did try and leave him in the kitchen by putting some boxes in front of the door, but he managed to play Houdini and got out, so he stayed out the rest of the afternoon. *laugh*
Tomorrow we will have individual meetings with the course coordinator and work out our schedules. I wanted both science and swedish but they are on the same day, so if I want to take science, I can only study swedish one day a week instead of two. I will have to decide what is more of a priority for me at this point.
I chatted with one of the mom’s today while we waited for the school bus and she told me she could see a big improvment in my swedish. I love when people tell me that because I still think it is really bad. *laugh*
Llywellyn has two classmates here and they are playing Monopoly Junior. It is hilarious to listen to them boss each other about as they play. *laugh* He wants all his friends to come home and meet Rusty. I spoke with the dad of one of his friends (he is one of my teachers) and his son will be coming here next week to meet the puppy.
Now I am off to try making something called Sloppy Janes, the vegetarian version of Sloppy Joes.
So I go back to school in the morning. It has been a nice summer, we have done a lot and spent a lot of time with family. I have spoken a lot of swedish and feel myself that my language skills have taken a big step forward, since I no longer switch to english when I know I can, I just plow along in swedish until I come to a word I don’t have and then either use english or try to say what I mean in a different way.
I am looking forward to this school year, want to work on my written swedish and get my “high school” diploma here.
Yesterday was a busy day, LL had a friend over for a couple hours and then he went to his friends for another couple hours. We picked him up at 1730 and then Ibo went off to a political function. I went and picked up a few groceries, played with Rusty, walked both dogs, cleaned Susan’s ears. Never did get her trimmed though. I got things ready to make quesadillas and we had them when my fellow got home. LL is still very tentative with the puppy but we are working on training him. *laugh* He is just a timid kid and so the puppy jumping up on him or trying to chew him is scary. We have been making him understand that he has to tell the puppy no and gently push him away when he does those things, so that Rusty understands he can’t do that. Things are better today, yesterday he was sitting up on the back of the sofa, since the puppy can’t get up on the sofa yet. Today he is sitting on the sofa itself and saying no to the puppy when necessary.
Rusty is learning so quickly but he is a stubborn little guy. He goes to the door if he wants to go out, he climbs the stairs home but he is not quite coordinated enough to go down yet. He comes when called (if he feels like it *laugh*), he knows he is not to eat from Susan’s bowl. But on the stubborn side, we live in the middle of the building, he stops when we get to the first portal and refuses to go on, he sees the door, that means home. He still tries to sneak a mouthful from Susan’s food and when we say no, he stands and barks a couple times before eating from his own bowl.
Yesterday after LL went off to his friends, we took both dogs to a large dog run here. As soon as we went out with them it started to rain, but we stayed for half an hour, let them both run about and they did “play” a bit together if you call Susan not ignoring Rusty playing. *laugh* Ibo ran with Susan but Rusty refused to run. He was happy to trot around but when they started to run in earnest, he just turned around and trotted on back to where I standing. I think part of it is that he is a puppy with the accompanying clumsiness so he doesn’t want to run and fall. After a half hour we came home and as soon as we got into our own courtyard, the rain stopped. *laugh*
At the moment Ibo is watching Formula 1. I have to do a bit of grocery shopping, want to get in a walk with the dogs, need to make dinner and then iron clothes for the week. We moved the couch a bit and now instead of just Susan napping behind Ibo’s chair, both dogs are doing it, one on each side. Hmmm, I thought Rusty was my dog …. or is that just when he is chewing on things and barking. *laugh*
We were up about 0600, someone had slept long enough and wanted to play. *laugh* So he had some food, a drink, played some and then finally was tuckered out and went back to sleep until 0930 when he nibbled insistently at my fingers, letting me know it was time to get up.
Ibo had taken them both out at bedtime, so it was my turn this morning. I took Rusty first and he was so good, he walked with me, came when I called him, did his stuff and then walked back home with me. He wasn’t sure which doorway was ours and headed to the building beside ours, then when I said nope, wrong one, he went to the one at the end of our building and gave me quite a look when I said again it was wrong. So when we got to the middle doorway, he stopped and waited to see if I was going in before he did. *laugh* He raced the stairs and I had to divert him from going up to the top floor instead of into our apartment. I had to laugh because when we moved here, Susan protested much about having to go up those 3 flights of stairs, since we lived on the ground floor in our first apartment. She would drag herself sighing up the first flight and then park herself outside the door of the people living below, sighing when I insisted she continue up. It was so bad the first week that she faked an injured paw one night, that magically was cured after I carried up to the apartment.
I just can’t get over having this puppy. Every time Ibo says “your dog” to me, I feel butterflies in my stomach. Susan has always been his dog, even though she loves us all. After my cat died 2 years ago, I started thinking that I was more than ready for another dog, but I knew I wanted a big dog and I wasn’t sure it was fair to have one in an apartment. Last year when I saw Seidon, I knew it was an irish setter I wanted but there was the apartment thing still. Then I started going out and walking and getting into shape and I thought that even in an apartment, we could still be out with a big dog so it got enough exercise. It was when we were at the cottage that we started talking about this seriously and here he is, the sweetest little puppy ever, “my dog”.
Rusty had a shower this morning, he needed one after the carsickness and Susan hates water so much that Ibo said this dog was going to learn to like water from the start. He was a bit scared at first but really seemed to like it and now he is clean and shiny again. It is someone elses turn for a shower tomorrow, but she needs some trimming first and I am working on her ears today.
Todays pictures: 
After a very quiet and tentative start to the day here, Rusty has become comfortable and is making himself at home. *laugh*
I said this morning to Ibo that I had forgotten what fun it is to have a puppy in the house. Of course it is work too, there is so much for him and for us to learn in a short time but he is just so cute and funny, that it is a joy to have him here. We spent the bulk of the day playing and getting to learn each other. At lunch time we went out and again I had to carry him down, but he did walk on his leash and climbed the final flight of stairs on his own. It took us an hour to walk a few metres but it was fun for all 3 of us.
In the afternoon we played more after a bit of a nap and then it was time for me to go and pick up LL. I was worried about leaving him here, he was at the investigate every nook and cranny stage. But off I went and then my bus was broken and the connecting bus never came so I called Ibo and he picked me up at the bus station and we drove to pick up LL from his bus. So we were home half and hour earlier than I thought and there was not much damage done here. *laugh* Rusty shredded the papers we had down by the door for him to pee on and he had pulled Ibo’s mouse down onto the floor.
We went out and got him a collar and leash of his own and some toys. After dinner Ibo’s parents came over and met Rusty. We had coffee and ice cream and then they headed off. Rusty and I went out, I carried him down but he walked to the grass with collar and leash on, played for ever so long and then we came home, only to discover I had forgotten my keys. He kept putting his paw on the door, waiting for it to open and finally a neighbour came home and let us in. Rusty went up all 3 sets of stairs and then went on up the last two sets so I had to retrieve him and carry him back down to our door.
Ibo and LL both played lots with him in the evening and we all played with Susan too, so she wouldn’t feel left out. Ibo sent in the papers that needed sending today and got insurance organized for him, so our new addition is all settled here.
So yesterday wasn’t completely devoted to Rusty. In the morning we took the kidlet to his bus and then Ibo dropped me off in Sigtuna where I went to the gym and worked out. It went well, much better than I expected since I was sure I would forget how the different machines worked, but of course I didn’t. *laugh* It took an hour and then I went across the road and got a coffee. As I was looking at the bus schedule planning the rest of my morning (puppy proofing) I remembered that I was booked to have fika with the girls at 1030.
I called Ruth and asked for directions again then walked to her place, arriving a half hour early. That was no problem, we all are laid back, which is likely why we all get along so well. There are 4 of us, we are all in our 40’s, all are moms, all are immigrants to Sweden. Two are american , one is somalian and of course I am the canadian of the bunch. It was lots of fun and we talked lots and caught up with each other a bit more, since we were scattered for the summer. The two american woman are done with their studies at SFH, we other two have another term to go. One of the things we did there was have a great time taking pictures and I thought I would post a couple. *laugh*
Llywellyn was so excited about the new puppy that he drew a picture of it Tuesday at fritids. 
These that I took this morning are not great, since it is Ibo, not me who is the photorapher, but they are cute!
We have a puppy! He is just too cute and so silky soft. We went after work last evening and after a long wait due to a very busy vet, we got to put our líttle boy in the car and come home. First though we had to stop at a political function but it was over when we got there so it was more of an everyone come and see the new puppy thing. *laugh* Poor Rusty was carsick and threw up just after we got to the gårdfest. So between the adult dogs jumping up on me with muddy feet, Rusty having peed in the crate and gotten both his legs covered in pee and the throwing up, I looked and smelled a sight, since I was carrying him from place to place. *laugh*
From there we took both dogs to a dog run so they could get aquainted. Rusty is quite happy with the idea of being friends with Susan, Susan is quite happy with the idea of not ever having to see the intruder again. She ignored him, walked away from him, ran away from him. *laugh* However when he was sound asleep and she thought no one was looking, she had her nose in his crate sniffing him and she even licked him, so I think her protests are a cover up.
We got home about 2130, had dinner and got the kidlet into bed. Rusty slept in the crate and barely noticed when we removed the top and when we lifted it into the bedroom at bedtime. He slept straight through till morning when he woke hungry, had a drink, then some food and then went out, first with me and then with Ibo and Susan. He is not happy to walk with a leash so I ended up carrying him out to the grass, but then he did actually walk about and sniff and roll.
I have a picture to resize and post, that LL drew of the puppy and I will hopefully get some pictures of him today. Ibo has taken a bunch already and posted one in his blog: here.