Last weekend, Rob and I celebrated baby Walter turning TWO years old! (*shoots fireworks into the air*)
Full disclosure: like most rescues, Walter's true age is a mystery. He could be 10 months old or 6 years old. *But* the vet's best guess (based partly on his insane energy levels) was that he was one when we adopted him on December 8th, 2018. So we celebrated his 'gotcha' day, his second birthday and that we've managed to keep Walter alive for 365 days.
Our cute, dog-loving neighbors brought Walter a cake-shaped cookie that morning and then we drove off to our favorite dog park. It's nine acres of fenced-in wilderness, which means Walter can assume his true form: WILD FOREST DOG. We usually arrive there, unhook Walt, and then we don't really see him for an hour. We do see his blurred form leaping over logs and sprinting, but that's about it. Our baby is greyhound-fast, agile as a mountain goat and has a decent amount of 'hunter' in his mixed breed. So when he comes back to us, I'm usually like "I feel like you've killed an animal? But I'm just not gonna think too much about it".
The moment we got home I let him open up his presents from Aunt Tammy (who was very kind to bring this bag with her at Indies Invade Philly). We then drove to the Christmas tree lot near our house in South Philly - where Walter lifted his leg and peed directly next to the four-foot tree we'd been eying. Rob yelled "THIS IS THE ONE" and that's how we chose it. A tiny toddler fed Walter pretzels, which was the height of both Walter and the toddler's day.
I turned on the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack (a classic), we put on our coziest pajamas, then Rob and I decorated our little tree with ornaments we've collected over our 10 (!!!) years together. We named the tree Acadia (in honor of our Maine trip this summer) and only got into one argument over how to hang the lights.
....and as you can see, Walter was a sleepy, happy pup. Birthday's can really take it out of ya!
