Tinich II

You might remember, from a few months back, our tragic chihuahua-adoption story.

Since then, Lu had been waiting for the breeder to fulfill his promise of giving Lu another puppy from the next litter. 

Two months turned into six months, ((during which my dog got pregnant and had twelve (yes, twelve) puppies)) and then, finally, Tinich II arrived!

She has now been with us for a week, and Lu has been an excellent caregiver from the get-go. Tinich is sharing our indoors with my boxweiler and her two lab-mix pups. In other words, she lives with three BIG dogs. Lu has to be extra careful with her because she's so tiny (which is what her name means), and he's doing an excellent job of it.

 

Puppies.... and some other stuff

We've been busy, busy with puppies

and projects.

Lu is working on a research project

about the Ancient Maya,

and making great progress despite

the computer room also being a puppy nursery.

A friend recently brought us Momo by Michael Ende

(author of Never Ending Story)

Lu is loving this book! 

It's about an orphan girl who lives in an abandoned park,

something about "the men in gray",

and a weird street where time warps...

I haven't actually read the book, but Lu's been

telling me all about it and it sounds pretty trippy.

 This coming week is our last before a three week break.

Which fits perfectly with the puppies just starting

to become a handful.

The river was running strong,

so we went out to build our annual dam

for a swim hole.

 Lu's been doing "Circuit Training" for P.E.

We come up with a 3-minute circuit

and he goes through it as many times as he can.

(and there's a window from our bedroom

to the dance studio because... 

it seemed like a good idea when we were building?)

The puppies had their first outing

into the yard the other day,

and felt sunshine for the first time!

 

Famous Landmarks and Twelve Puppies

Lu can find pretty much any country in the world on a globe in seconds, and tell you what the capitals of many of those countries are. He has a solid grip on world geography, mostly thanks to this great site that he's been working with for a few years now.

This year, Lu is focusing on famous landmarks. 

By the end of this project, he'll have 40+ flashcards 

of important places in the world.

Here are some of them:

On the back he writes the landmark's name, location, 

when it was built (if it applies), 

and any fun facts he can find about it.

He's researching, developing his drawing,

and learning about some truly awesome human-made

and natural wonders in our world.

*   *  *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

If you've been here before, 

you probably know that we're dog-crazy.

Last year, we added Izoxa to our pack.

She grew into a big, strong dog.

And then she met Ocayo.

It was love at first sight.

Last Sunday, she gave birth to 12 puppies.

Yes. 12!!!

 They get cuter by the day.

Lu was present for most of the three hours

that the birthing took. 

It was an amazing experience.

There are few things as wonderful 

as putting your face into a pile of twelve puppies, 

or having your chin sucked by one of them. 

We're in puppy heaven :)

Mayan Creation Stories, Evolution, Sauerkraut, and a Chihuahua... among other things

Of course it's wonderful when Lu is fully engaged in

and excited by what we're learning, 

but it's also pretty cool when it's engaging and exciting 

for mama too.

I'm really enjoying everything we're doing this term.

We just finished reading the children's version 

of the Mayan book of creation - Popol Vuh.

We're learning Guatemalan geography,

something I need to brush up on.

Lu's creating a set of famous landmark flashcards.

With Lu's guitar playing, we're also doing lots of singing.

We're furthering our understanding of evolution

with this awesome book:

In the kitchen, Lu made brownies with a friend.

and two hugeongous jars of sauerkraut.

Lu found a motorbike in a tree.

 And there's been a lot of skateboarding,

and playing around with Cha's new groovy photo app.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

In the workshop, Lu built a bed for a chihuahua.

A chihuahua?

(did you notice her in the second photo?)

 

Tinich came to us this week.

Her name means "tiny" in Kakchikel,

the local Mayan language.

She was severely hypoglycemic and did not make it,

even though we did everything we could for her.

She will live long in our memories.