january joy : happy birthday, YoshiBear!

So, Internet, I have decided to do a Thing this month. I am exhausted from negativity and I wanted to try and change what I see and read for this 2016 year (that I am already suspicious of because it's an even-numbered year.) Winter is difficult. January is difficult. So for this month I am going to take note of the Joy. Little joys. Big joys. January Joy 2016. I am going to blog about things that bring me joy this month. Not daily (because: hahahahahaha. Right.) but way more often than I have been. Because we need more joy in our lives.To start the New Year, on this very first day of January, my joy is found in the birthday of our wonderful YoshiBear. The fluffiest, sweetest, and derpiest Finnish Lapphund of them all. ("Them all" being relative to those Lappies we have lived with in the past 17 years.)So this is how I thought Yoshi should sport his birthday hat for his 4th birthday today.

Sigh...

Yoshi had other ideas, because this is how he felt the birthday hat was best put to use.

Oh, boy! NOM! NOM! NOM!

Yeah, he was having none of that with the hat. Apparently I'd just given him the best toy ever.And of course the hat was a huge hit with Yoshi, not in the way I'd intended. We thought his birthday treat of a pig's knuckle would have been more exciting, but he just looked at me, looked at the treat and had no clue what to do.

Birthday hat = BEST TOY EVER! Birthday pig's knuckle treat = da fuq do I do with this??

But where Yoshi may lack in smarts, he makes up for in infinite amounts of love and snuggles. I wake up to this face every* morning:

* it's not always his face in my face every morning. If you get my drift.

How can you not be filled with joy seeing that teddybear of a face first thing every morning?Yoshi is such a loveable pup. He's calm, curious, friendly, and silly. He chews his toys or treats with his bum up in the air. He gets startled by and barks at the mysterious dog that only comes out at night, that he sees in the back yard (SPOILER ALERT: it's his reflection.) Still. He gets startled by the dog he sees in the mirror next to the bed a lot as well. He doesn't bark at this one, he admires it. Or maybe he's figured out that it's HIM and he's just lost in his own beauty. Hey, it happens to the best of us.This is his second year with snow, and he didn't seem to recall the cold part of it. He wants to stay outside, but his poor, southern belle paws need to get used to the cold. heh

What do you MEAN, this scarfy isn't for ME? Look how fashionable I am!!

Yoshi loves scarves. Don't tell him, but I'm making him one for his birthday. Though due to my being sucked into the Lego Batman 3 Void, and the craft project I'm trying to get done this weekend, I'm a little behind. So far he's got a pretty decent knitted bookmark. You know, for all those books he reads. *cough*

I dids not choose the thugs life. It choosed me.

He's such a patient dog. He might not like all the stuff I put on him (the scarfys are an exception. He loooooooves the yarn and knitting. Kid you not.) He just looks more and more like a toy when I dress him up. He's so adorable I can't stand it sometimes. Just look at him in that hoodie! Gah!

File this! Minute that! When is lunch time?

Yoshi is such a calm, quiet dog, that I wish I could bring him into the office with me regularly. I may or may not have snuck him into the office on our last day before the holidays. As you can see, he does Business Casual pretty well. He was so happy to meet new people. And with the tie, you wouldn't even notice he was a dog. (He did not like the elevators though. Going up startled him, and he had to be carried into the elevator on the way down.)I had no idea what a gift Yoshi would turn out to be when we adopted him. He's helped me through so much in the last year. His calming influence, and complete devotion to me helped me through some awful anxiety and PTSD relapses. His constant shadowing of me where ever I go in the house makes me smile, giggle, and feel so safe and calm. He hates when I cough or sneeze, he'll lie on top of me and stick his nose in my face. Doesn't blink an eye when Shawn does it. Guess he's expendable. hehYoshi sleeps on me, and I have fallen asleep on him. He often likes to put his paw in my hand when we sleep. Or he'll place my hand on his face and press up firmly against it and falls right asleep. He dreams vividly if his many ear flutters, paw running, nose and eye twitches are any indication. He has to be near one of us at all times. He's branching out and spending more time with Shawn these days. I don't feel so guilty about his devotion now.Even Sophie has grown to love him in her own way. Now that there is snow on the ground, she will play with him (FINALLY -- YoshiBear). She lets him lie down next to her (more often than she used to), and lets him lick her face at night. He'll never fill the place that Jinx had in her life, but she's a lot happier having Yoshi around than being by herself. She's also happier because I inflict all my dressing up games on him and not her. See how thrilled she is to NOT be wearing a hoodie? I think she was laughing at him.Happy 4th birthday, my YoshiBear. Thank you for being such a huge part of my life, and our lives, this year. You've only been here a little over a year, but it feels like you've been part of my heart for my entire life.And that, Internet, is my first moment of Joy  this January.