Hi, everyone.  Chris, Casey, Emily, and I just wanted to wish everyone a
happy Thanksgiving holiday.
 
    Emily seems to have adapted very well to living with us so far and seems
very happy.  I just have some slight concerns.  First of all, she will NOT
stop biting!!  Just the other night, when i went to kiss her good night, she
turned her head and bit my upper lip and refused to let go.  As i was
thrashing about in pain, Chris managed to make her let go by scruffing her.
My lip was bleeding and it's still swollen.  Actually, I kind of blame
myself because I had just applied cherry lip balm and Emily loves it.  But
she is definitely a biter; she bites feet, toes, fingers, calves, even
butts.  Chris and I have treated her to bitter apple and have tapped her
nose millions of times, but nothing seems to work.  I'm hoping she will grow
out of it, like Casey did.  That's another concern; she and Casey are really
playing rough these days.  They chase each other around and pounce on each
other, but after a few minutes, they turn to biting each other- hard.  I
don't know if it's play or fighting; Emily cries out all the time, but Casey
never lets go.  We have to pry them apart, but they always go right back at
it.  "It's all fun and games, til someone gets hurt".  I just don't know if
Emily is really being hurt by Casey, or if she's just dooking.  She dooks a
lot, hence her nickname, DookDook.  She's very vocal, which gives us a lot
of laughs.
 
    The other night, Emily finally was introduced to Frankie, the iguana.
Frankie is very good with Casey ( of course their meetings are fully
supervised) but he did not take a liking to Emily at all.  Chris made the
mistake of leaving the room for a minute to go to the bathroom and when he
came back, Emily was cowering under the pillow and Frankie had strands of
fur around his mouth.  She wasn't hurt, but I can just imagine what
happened.  I don't think she'll try to befriend Frankie again.
 
    A few days ago, someone posted something about jumping ferrets.  Casey
is an expert.  we've measured her farthest jump at a foot and three
quarters, from the bed to the desk.  it's incredible.  i swear, she's
fearless.  she has also learned how to open doors.  we have to be careful to
fully close the door, otherwise, Casey pries it open with her paws.  she is
also very good at opening drawers to find her favorite sleeping nook; inside
Chris's t-shirts.  She looks so cute sleeping all curled up in a t-shirt,
though.
 
    As for nicknames, we call them "the girls", "the kids", we call Emily
DookDook, Emmy or "Oww!" and Casey Boogala.
 
    Well, I hope everyone has a great holiday!
 
--Kristen, Chris, Casey and Emily (We are so happy Mommy and Daddy don't
have to go to work or school on Turkey Day so they can stay home and PLAY
PLAY PLAY! dook, dook)
[Posted in FML issue 1386]