“Thank you, my loyal delegates of the toy-box district of Pug-Slope-ia, for gathering today around the King’s palace.  Some of you may not have been graced with my presence before, and to you I apologize.  But here I lie before you today, your prince, Siddhartha Lamont, Duke of Lamont, and one-day ruler of all territories within Pug-Slope-ia…

“As you may have heard, something strange is afoot in the kingdom.  A rumor has spread that my parents, the very strict and very treat-withholding King and Queen of Pug-Slope-ia, are embarking on a journey “Upstate” for approximately two days and two nights.   The rumor goes on to state that while they are gone, a woman named “Fun Aunt Liv” will be entering the King’s palace as a sort of surrogate authority, overseeing all walks, meal-times, treats and slumbers.  They’ve given ultimate power to this “Fun Aunt Liv” rather than entrusting their only son – me – to rule as he sees fit…

“As the rightful heir to the throne, I say ENOUGH with their dismissive attitude towards my ability to manage this kingdom and the out-dated and way-too-strict limitations they place on the amount and types of food I am allowed to eat.  I will not stand for this betrayal of the royal hierarchy, and I command that you, my loyal subjects, follow suit.  The uprising should be quick and painless, for, you see, I have met this “Fun Aunt Liv.” She once entered the kingdom while the King and Queen were away, immediately fed me a delicious meal, and promptly left the premises – all with nary a coercion to “go for a dreaded walk” or “sit in my throne while my food is prepared.”  Usurping her authority will not be difficult.”

“What will you ask of us, my lord?”

“Aye, good froggie, I am asking you, my dear, loyal subjects, to help me make this the weekend the oppression ends.  This will be the weekend we win the freedom to ingest everything we ever dreamed of ingesting – earphones, tea-light candles, paper towels, chapstick – tubes and tubes of chapstick!  Entire packages of flour tortillas.  Ear plugs.  Giant loaves of garlic bread.  Newman-O’s.  Twelve-gallon bins of kibble!  I see before me an entire army of my toys here in defiance of tyranny.  You have come to fight as free toys, and free toys you are.  What would you do without freedom?  Will you fight?”

“We are toys.  We can’t even eat food.  Why fight?  We will run and we will live.”

“Aye, good fish-sandwich toy, that is true.  Fight and you may die. Run and you’ll live — at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but THEY WILL NEVER TAKE OUR FREEDOM!!!”

(…crickets…)

“Seriously?”

“Eh…”

“Well, then, I banish thee!  I banish thee ALL back to the toy box!!  Good day to all of you!”

“But-“

“I said GOOD DAY!”

*****

Everybody please wish our incredibly brave friend Olivia the best of luck as she takes on the task of watching our beloved-yet-headstrong pug for the weekend.  She’s quite good with dogs and very familiar with Sid’s…hunger…for life, so hopefully the weekend will be relaxed, enjoyable, and free of canine mutiny!

So, as Brian mentioned, Sid got one of his birthday presents early.  It’s a giant, unwieldy snake-like monster with very, very loud squeakers running up and down it’s body, crinkly arms, and a rattler in its tail.   Sid’s only allowed to play with it for, like, five minutes, once a day, because he turns into a MANIAC when it’s around.

“Awww, but look at Sid, so calmly snuggling with his cuddly new squeaky snake,” you say.  What a sweetheart, right?

Thankfully we have a video camera to capture the truth:

Today is Sid’s big day and we kicked off the celebration with a pug cake. Well, it wasn’t technically a cake but rather a combination of some of his favorite treats.

We started with one de-cored apple, slathered on some chunky all-natural peanut butter, and topped the whole thing with carrot slivers to serve as the candles (he’s six this year). We set up a towel for him to eat this goopy mega-treat on but he immediately plucked it up and toted it over to his bed where he started going to town.

In order to try and encourage him to slow down a little and savor the experience, we took the cake away for a moment…

…and of course his little pug face immediately dropped. It’s Okay, buddy, you can have the cake back now.

Timothy Buttons, who was over for the party, made sure no peanut butter drippings got left behind. She’s a smart girl and knew better than to get between an obsessive Birthday Pug and his cake!

In addition to the cake and Sid’s Secret Toy (which we’ll reveal tomorrow) he also got a flat plush rabbit raccoon (You were right, Payton!).

Like the Secret Toy, the flat rabbit raccoon also brought out the wild animal in him!

Sid, let’s calm down a little. We don’t want that cake to come back up!

 All in all it was one excellent Birthday. Sid is one happy (and spoiled) 6-year-old!

We had a really fun weekend, including a special Prospect Park Pug Pack Brunch at Lola’s house.  We have a ton photos to sort though from the fancy pug-brunch, so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to read about that pug-tastic event.

For now, though, let’s talk about Saturday.  On our way back from the park on Saturday morning, Sid came across a small finger puppet toy on the street. As with most items he comes across, it immediately went into his mouth. Perhaps we could’ve let Sid go to town on the toy, but this puppet was really small, to the point where it seemed like he could easily slide the street-plushie right  down the ol’ gullet. We quickly swooped in to prevent this potential calmity and placed the puppet high up on a stoop so he couldn’t get to it, but, as many of you know by now, Sid’s a determined little dude…

“Oooh, what is that!”

“It’s that thing I was trying to eat – time to extend my reachers!”

“Just…a little…(gasp)…further!”

“Ngyuhhhhhhh!”

Of course, he did end up getting the puppet into his clutches, but we were able to bargain with him, and a handful of treats later, the puppet was ours again.
—

CALENDAR UPDATE! Sid’s doing really well in the Curly Tail Pug Rescue 2012 Calendar competition thanks to your support! We’re hoping he at least makes it into the finals. There’s still time to vote, and the money goes to a great cause, so if you haven’t voted already please go to Curly Tail’s website and vote for Sid (August and October).

Sid and I have this game we play called Froggie Catch. It basically consists of me tossing his mini plush frog (one of his favorite toys) to him from varying distances. He’s actually gotten quite good at catching the frog.

Here’s a little “highlight reel” from our last game. Sorry it’s on the dark side – it has been overcast quite a bit in NYC lately. Hope you all have a great weekend!

It was still grey and rainy here yesterday, and Sid was getting restless. Due to the rain all weekend, we’d been cooped up indoors the whole time, staring at the walls. When Sid gets antsy, we usually send him on a “squirrel hunt” with his Hide-A-Squirrel toy (still one of his favorites even after many months!).

This time I kept hiding a squirrel behind my back and squeaking it when he least suspected it. The expression on his face leads me to believe he thought it was one of the departed squirrels squeaking from beyond the grave. That is, until I waved the tail in his face.

It rained all weekend and is supposed to rain all this week as well. Sid has hunkered down into his bed with a few of his favorite toys to keep him company. I know what you’re all thinking but I swear I did not pose him like this. He is a studied master at the art of cute.