Kimi knows how this house works by now. As soon as she sees mommy here bring out her purse and shoes and set them by the stairs she knows it means a truck ride! YIPPY! One way or another Kimi uses every trick in her book to get to go along. Conditioned training? Yep..she has me trained to a tee.....she gets to go along today too. I can't be to easy on her though. I have to make her work for it. As I sit down on the stairs to put on my shoes Kimi comes up behind me and stands her front feet against my shoulders. Her tiny little bottom is wriggling all around with her tail wagging furiously. I feel her little warm, wet tongue in my ear as she tries to whisper sweet nothings at me as only she can do. Flattery will get you everywhere my dear Kimi!

Kimi is trying all the good tricks she can to get me to notice her, but when all else fails she knows how to get your attention. As I leaned down to pull on my other shoe, Kimi tried some pulling of her own! On my hair! "OUCH! Hey! Kimi...let go!", I cried to her as she grabbed a mouth full of my long hair and tried to make a run with it. Grinning wickedly around her mouth full of hair...MY hair, Kimis tail swings madly in wagging circles, winding her behind up with it. I reached back to take my hair from her mouth and it became a circus of animal acts in trying to pry her loose from it. Or my hair loose from her!

From ring number one we have the lion act...As I reach for Kimis nose, she takes her left paw and swats at me wickedly. I place my right hand above her head and she drops her chest to the floor and growls loudly in her most frightening and fiercest imitation of the King of Beasts. All the while grinning impishly up at me with sparkles of laughter twinkling in her eyes.Trying to be "tough and commanding", while trying not to laugh back at her, I issued a sharp "NO!" Kimis head rose up quickly, as did both of her ears and she looked at me as if to say "WHAT?!" Not in confusion but in defiance.

Her eyes bright with joy, Kimi switched acts and went into the galloping horses. WITH MY HAIR IN HER MOUTH! Back and forth our sweet little "angel" ran from left to right and back again still clutching her prize of hair between her delicate little teeth. She made sure to leave plenty of slack so she wasn't pulling the hair out, after all what's the fun in that? Then she has to wait for it to grow back in again before playing this game with mom! I placed my hands on my hair and began "walking" them up my hair to reach her muzzle. Once I had touched her nose she switched acts again.

Suddenly we became the monkey act, and with a series of jumps, hops, rolls and sommersaults, she had firmly and effectively tied herself up in my hair! HA! I've got her now! She can't get away until I untangle her!! Our sweet faced little Kimi wasn't done yet though. Each time I unwrapped another lock from around her, she nipped at my fingers and through my curtain of hair I could hear her breathy little laughs as I told her she was a brat. As I finally unwraped the last strand of hair from her tiny white feet Kimi was still laying on her back grinning up at me. Not wriggling, not moving, she was waiting for me to make the first move. Ok..so I admit it, this is where I should have corrected her. Did I ? Obviously not. All I could think of at the time with her grinning so devishly innocent-like up at me, was that commercial...about making the most of your time spent together and laughing. So as I sat up I ruffled her fur and swung my hair over my shoulder to safety. Yipping with joy, Kimi jumped to her feet and pounced my back. I know she was still pleading with me to let her go for when I caved in and told her she could come, our Kimi leaped high into the air out of sheer excitement and shouted "YIP!" I took this to mean "mommy you're the best!"

While the others walked into the store, Kimi and I took ourselves off to the pet store down the sidewalk. Kimi made good use of her time during our walk to chase the leaves tossing to and fro in the afternoon breeze. Yipping at the ones that got away, Kimi did her best to chase down each and every errant leaf in hopes of capturing them all. Little did I know she was merely warming up for her own private matinee of the day!

We spent a leisurely time in the pet store, with Kimi inspecting everything that was below the 10 inch "Kimi" line, and doing her best to startle the two children in the next aisle. Hearing the kids talking over on the other side, Kimi flashed me a quick grin and dashed around the corner with a sharp "YIP!!" By the way the two kids jumped and squealed they knew her yip meant "BOO!" Kimis little mouth dropped in laughter and her tongue curled from the corner of her mouth as she let the children pet her and make over her after they had recovered. Kimi is gearing up for Halloween already!

Once we finished in the store, we made our way back down the sidewalk to the front of the big store to wait for the others in our "party" Noticing the wind had picked up in intensity, I took the hair clip out of my pocket and tied it back out of my face. Just as I had finished I felt a quick tug on the handle of Kimis flexilead. Looking up quickly to see what my tiny terror was into, my eyes popped open when I spotted her. I just stood there stunned, my own smile rapidly spreading. Here we are, standing on a stark and barren sidewalk, in the middle of nothing and Kimi was about to have the time of her life and had managed to invite about 20 other people into doing so as well.

In one corner of this sidewalk are two connecting outter walls to the store. In this corner the wind drops down and swirls angrily in its attempts to escape the confines of concrete and brick. As it swirls, it gathers the leaves and paper bits in its path and sweeps it all along with it. What starts out as a gentle and curious swirl, quickly tightens into a tight and angry circle of madly spinning debrie, desperately seeking its path to freedom. As I watched one such whirlwind form, Kimi stood there bravely watching as the leaves and papers began their dance. Around they spun past her nose, buffeting her with wind, dust, and bits of everything it could carry. Kimis ears perked up, her eyes sparkled and with a joyfully shouted "YIP!" (BONZIA!) Kimi leaped into the cyclone. Around and around she ran yipping and yapping at every leaf, evey piece of paper as it rushed by her and under her. Over her and around her. As an errant leaf or piece of paper would be lifted into the air, lifted by the under currents, Kimi would jump into the air yipping at those trying to escape. Occasionally capturing one, she would then rejoin the foray with her prized leaf between her lips, still trying to yip her pleasure, only to have it come out as a muffled "YIPPPFFFHH"

And off they would race again. ''Round and 'round she went and as the cirlce of leaves would tighten and become smaller Kimi would tighten her own chase. "YIP YIP YIP YIP" went Kimi, adding a growl here and there for good measure. Kimi was having so much fun she didn't notice me laughing until my tears ran at the expressions of joy, frustration, determination and yes even dizziness crossed her face. Nor did she notice the crowd of on lookers who stopped in their mad rush tthrough their life to enjoy a simple moment of pure joy from a young puppy. Behind me I could hear their laughter and comments drifting over my shoulder. "Look at that puppy!" "She's having so much fun!" "Mommy I want one!" "Oh how cute!" and even one gentleman who suggested I should be taping this..oh if only he knew how many times we parents have thought that same thing!

Suddenly as her circle tightened beyond the capabilty of her speed, Kimis feet slipped on the smooth surface of the concrete and down she went! Her tiny feet slid to the left and down she came on her side, spinning out of control like a speeding car on ice. Behind me I heard muffled gasps and even one tiny older womans squeaky little voice saying "Oh no...poor dear!" Undaunted and unharmed, Kimi had leapt to her nimble feet as quickly as she went down and with a gleeful "YIP!" off she went again. As Kimi ran in her ever tightening circles, her shiney pink tongue was hanging and bouncing happily from the corner of her mouth.

Every so often the wind would die down and the leaves would slow and eventually stop in their merry-go-round of fun. Kimi would slow with them and stand there, "nosing" them . Trying to restart the fun. Whether she simply "wished" the fun to begin so strongly that it would or if the wind was just being co-operative that day we'll never know, but Kimi enjoyed her quickly thought up game of chance for as long as it lasted. And by the time it was time to head for home, Kimi was hot and tired, but happy with all the world and herself.

And for a brief time 20 other people and I were able to forget about our lives and the troubles of the world as we allowed ourselves to get caught up in the simple joy of being alive and truly living each moment that we have been given. Thank you Kimi for yet another lesson in how to chase the leaves if our lives and what "being alive" truly means.

walk in beauty
Kristi & Kimi