Data Review Crunch Time

Next Wednesday I have a data review meeting for my thesis. The good news is that means I am only about two months off of finishing graduate school and having a lot more time for Kyle. The bad news is that means Kyle gets to be bored while I frantically type my thesis.

Last week my thesis chair told me I have to work on my thesis at least 12 hours a day without ever answering my cell phone. Then she added, you cannot do anything but work on your thesis and maybe walk your dog. Since she's not a dog person, that shows how much Kyle has won her over.

Daily walks aside (which three days a week we interpret as hikes), Kyle has spent a lot of time lounging around. One evening when he couldn't cuddle with me, he decided to cuddle my backpack.

(Kyle is curled in a ball and resting his left shoulder on my backpack.)

Later Kyle decided to lay in an extremely weird, and what appears highly uncomfortable, position on my backpack. You have to realize that bag is full of books and has hard water bottles in each side pocket. Odd puppy!

(Kyle is on his back with his front half on my backpack slanting downward. His legs are curled up so that he looks like roadkill. Sad.)

Since the backpack adventures, I've moved my work to my spare room/office, where I am much more productive than I am on the couch. This has caused Kyle to get creative again. My desk isn't that big, but he manages to curl up in the little space my feet and trashcan don't take up underneath. He is always happiest when he is touching me.

(Kyle is sleeping between my legs, which you cannot see, and a leg of my desk chair. His legs are extended to take up the last little bit of free space.)

Tonight it got to be way past bedtime, and I was still hours from submitting the draft I promised my chair before the morning. I finally took pity on Kyle and brought his bed alongside my desk. Of course, Kyle had to pick an odd way to sleep on it.

(Kyle is asleep on his back with his top half on the carpet and his bottom half on his dog bed. His legs are out to his sides. The left front leg was wrapped around my chair until I moved to take the picture. Even in his soundest sleep, Kyle likes to be near me if possible.)

My mom was on the phone to me when Kyle started barking in his sleep, so I put the phone up to him, and she got to hear it. He has the funniest little barks, whines, and groans when he dreams. Thankfully, they aren't very loud, and I'm a sound sleeper.

Yes, you did notice that I was breaking the no cell phone rule. That is because I have one of the best mom's ever. She stayed up until all hours editing chapter four of my thesis. When one of my professors told me her dad wouldn't even read the bound copy of her thesis, I had to brag that my mom reads and edits every word of my thesis. I sure am loved!

Back to Kyle... Lest you fear that he isn't getting socialized, we had a wonderfully fun puppy-filled weekend that is a large contributing factor to our crunch time now. That post will have to wait. In the mean time, I have to admit that Kyle has gotten three new toys lately to somehow makeup for asking him to entertain himself for hours every day. Isn't that a bad parenting technique...buying your kids toys instead of giving them attention? Does it count for dogs? I'm afraid so. Sigh!

(Kyle is happily chewing on his new XXL red Kong. He actually got this toy because he got his large red Kong stuck in his mouth, and it scared me. I was nice and resisted my temptation to find my camera and take a picture before I pulled it out. Now he only gets his large Kongs when I'm in the room.)