We started the day with a visit to see Mattie's favorite baby next door. They were as thrilled as ever to see each other, and Mattie ran around their backyard and grabbed sticks.

She followed me around as I worked in the garden. She kept snapping at the hose water, the first time she'd shown interest in any water play. This is a photo of her all damp afterwards.

For the past two days she's followed the same rhythm of : wild in the morning, long nap after lunch, then wild again before bed. It's nice that she's learning to hang out and sleep a long time so we can get things done instead of chasing her and pulling choking hazards out of her mouth.

Speaking of choking hazards, Mattie got her first rawhide today. A few years ago, Bitsy choked on a bone and wasn't breathing, and it took me about 45 seconds, the longest 45 seconds of my life, to save her. I thought I wasn't going to be able to. So bones make me really nervous now and I don't like them in the house, but my dad brought a rawhide home. So I sat with Mattie and just let her have a little.

She had a big evening when I took her to meet the family I typically nanny for (I'm just on a break right now) and we spent an hour there. It was too overwhelming for Mattie. I wanted them all to sit on the floor and let her sniff them, but before I could blink all four family members were grabbing her and passing her from arm to arm. She threw up in the car. At nighttime, she skipped her usual pre-bed burst of wildness and instead basically fell asleep at 8 PM.