The Many Sides of Titan

We've taken a few random photos of Titan over the last couple of weeks. The photo below is one that Dylan took. It shows one of Titan's favorite pasttimes - chewing on stuff. I saved these shoes from their horrible fate soon after this photo was taken. Do you see the shoes to the left of Titan? I got them for Christmas. Aren't they cute???

This is Titan sleeping. This is one of my favorite pasttimes of Titan's. It means he's not chewing on stuff and not pooping in my house:

I love this next photo. He is enthralled with the dishwasher. Whenever I stack dishes, he "helps" me by climbing up onto the flap that opens and licking the water off the dishes. Gross, I know, but I do wash them afterwards. Pretty soon, he'll be too big to fit onto that flap.

Dylan took this next one. It's of me taking Titan out. Until very recently, I've had to go out with Titan and give him moral support. He wouldn't potty without me out there to encourage him. What a weirdo!! We've had a cold snap this week (20 below two nights ago, 12 below last night, and the daytime high averages about five degrees), so I have to shove his butt out the door and yell at him through the door to go potty. Because he hates the cold, he's been really lackadaisical about pooping outside. He goes through this whole ritual before he poops (he walks around in circles and sniffs every little piece of snow on the ground before he will commit to the perfect pooping spot), and it's too cold for his ritual, so we've had a little pooping battle. He's pooped inside a few times this week, which makes me gag and then vomit. Lots of fun. He hasn't peed inside for a really long time, which is a minor victory for me in this potty-training war. We'll get there eventually. This morning, despite the chill, he pooped twice outside, without me having to keep opening the door and shoving his butt down the stairs, yelling, "GO POOP!!"

Following are two more random photos of Titan, courtesy of Dylan. I think Titan is the perfect dog for Dylan, because Dylan is a bit of a roughhouser, and so is Titan. They both kind of wear each other out, which is good. Dylan likes to dish it out, but he can't take it. If Titan gets a little too rough, Dylan comes crying to me. Since we've had Titan, Dylan's appreciation for Daisy, my parent's teeny little white Shi-Tsu, has gone up quite a bit. Whenever we go to my parents' house, Dylan dotes on little Daisy, arranging blankets for Daisy to lie on, carrying her gently around, stroking her gently, etc. He used to be a little rough on Daisy, but now he is really sweet with her. I think he appreciates that she is so teeny and doesn't bite. He keeps saying he wants us to "take Titan back" and get him a "small, white, furry dog." Not gonna happen. There are days I want to "take Titan back," don't get me wrong, but I feel like we made a commitment, and we need to stick it out. Plus, I really like Titan, and Ben does, too. Dylan then asks if we can get a second dog, that is small, white, and furry, and that's not gonna happen, either. Maybe when our very youngest child is, like, six. Then maybe I'll think about it. One is plenty for me right now.