Yule Ramblings #5: The Furry One

Well, we never thought we needed her. But we needed her.

She is our very first family pup.

And here she is, in ornament form: our own Luna Blue Kathmandu.

Our little Blue Moon Weimaraner joined our family this past spring. She's headstrong, hyperactive and (to our detriment sometimes) incredibly astute. She's been known to wiggle her way out of the tiniest of spaces and jiggle the door handles open to forbidden places.

Luna was given her name because our family is simply fascinated by the phases of the moon. We're huge fans of Harry Potter's quirky and eternally faithful friend, Luna Lovegood. Lastly, I personally have always found the story of the Artemis to be enchanting - imagine being the Greek Goddess of the moon, the hunt, the wilderness, among other things. Talk about Girl Power.

We named her "Blue" because because of her coat color, a lustrous blue-gray hue laced in depth and mystery.

"Kathmandu" is a nod to our obsession with the Himalayan mountains. In fact, our son is known to say "I love you bigger than Mount Everest!" quite often.

Luna's ornament bears a striking resemblance to the real deal, minus the docked tail. It's the perfect just-a-little-fuzzy texture, and assumes that ready-to-go eager-to-please stance that our pup is downright famous for.

Now, Luna has a, well, strange relationship with our Christmas tree. You see, she's been known to surprise us with her irrational fears: fluffy feathers, falling leaves, gentle rainfall and now - Christmas balls. You know, the ubiquitous orb-shaped ornament? Now, if one should find itself coming loose and tumble onto our couch, Luna will leap a few feet in the air and let out a piercing yelp. This will be followed by many growls and a few laps around our dining room (which in itself is pretty comical, because she can't gain the traction she's after, so she just slips and slides all over the hardwood floors.) Having a pup has been an interesting experience, rife with unexpected rewards - mostly because our little boy is simply obsessed with her. He calls her Lou. He yearns to be more and more involved: he feeds her, plays with her, cuddles her. When you see them quietly down in the den, as he's playing his Lego City PS4 video game, and she sits beside him, leaning ever so slightly into his shoulder... well, it'll fill your heart with both gladness and gratefulness.

I've watched my (dare I say?) oftentimes shy little boy blossom into a friendly kiddo who'll introduce himself to other pup families in public (all under our supervision, of course.) We've be granted golden ticket access to an entirely new subculture. To see our little one there, petting another pup, chatting up its guardian - well, this is an absolute gift in itself. It's worth all the trouble - the grueling stages of the separation anxiety, the potty training, the incessant booms of barking, the crate training, the rambunctious naughtiness - oh, you do realize I'm talking about our pup, not our son, correct? ;) And as a mama, it's worthwhile to watch my pup grow rapid fire, and to stand by (open hearted and open jawed) as my son matures at an excelled pace, right along side her.

Luna - although, let's be real, she has her moments - has enhanced our lives in more ways than we could have ever anticipated. Welcome home, girl.