Meanwhile across town

The accelerated reunification of foster kiddo with his birth dad and siblings started Friday afternoon, but it's not fully signed off on.  Still son and DIL went to bed Friday night without kiddo in residence, and with the anticipation that this particular fostering has come to an end.  Great kid.  Hopefully they will still be in his life, but it's not the same as having him living at their house.  Prayers for the many times foster parents say "good-bye" to kiddos not fully grown and are mandated to "let go".  If all goes well in the next few days, the little guy will be at his dad's place for good.

My son and his wife have a date night planned for Saturday night, to console one another about this parting.  They are going early, the 4 p.m. early bird thing, to avoid the coming snow as much as they can.  

Ember sends her best wishes to them, offering up her plastic stick.

As of 5 p.m. on Saturday, Ember was quiet in her crate, the last "nap" before "last call".  We had a good day.  A few new toys were rolled out, and I actually saw her get excited about indoor interactive play.  We played some fetch, we played some tug, and we had some good instances of the "thank you" tug release, followed by a sit to ask for the resumption of the game.  For all the frustrating days (like Friday), there are good days (like Saturday) where "hope springs eternal".

We had quiet couch time before crate time three times Saturday.  It's our new thing.  It helps grow her willingness to crate up afterward.  It solidifies our mutual trust.

New favorite tug toy, I've been calling "black sheep" to her.  We now have four furry (faux furry, that is) tug toys.  I determined that she likes the furry feel in her mouth better than the fleecy feel.  Also better than a ball.  She likes the plastic/rubber balls better than the fuzzy tennis balls... it takes time and experience to determine what gives your specific dog joy and thus makes the better reward for them.

Sunday morning... what will we find?

I woke at 3 and heard the wind howling.  Successfully fell back asleep until after 4:30 am.  The phone app says it's going to start snowing again at 6:08 am.  How very specific!  It did not, exactly, so, there's that for specific predictions.

During "last call" Saturday night, we had about half an inch of snow on the ground, and it was lightly falling.  Ember put on an impressive display of zoomies.  Then she played begged me for a bit of tug before quietly chewing on a bone before bedtime.

The deck did not look much different from what it did at last call Saturday evening.  Ember zoomed some, but also did her morning business, then we went inside.  We did not do any outdoor ball chasing Sunday morning, but we did go out and "check on" the snow on the deck, several times.

Played several tug games, some hide and go seek, and a few rounds of crate games.  Eventually we settled down to be a couch puppy while the human fixed her own breakfast.  Ember consented to nap in the crate after.  I told Ember I was going outside to see if I could find her poo, and she settled in just fine while I did so.

The snow is not up to the predicted amount, but the Winter storm warning lasts until midnight, so we'll see how short of that we are.  They have lowered the prediction to 1 - 5 inches for our fair city.  We've already got about an inch.  This can be handled.  It's a light fluffy snow.  My DIL reported slick streets after their dinner date.

Wishing all who stop by the best of Sunday... may you be safe, warm and dry!

Choose to live your life!  Spark on.