Adventureland

Today was first meal day for the puppies. They are much better at standing (and walking), their eyes are completely open and their teeth are coming in nicely which means it's time they graduated to a soft mash for one meal a day. Ducks meeting water for the first time could not have done better than this Ridgeback litter meeting 'real' food.

This will ease the strain on Leeloo a little bit although they always seem to have room to top up from her even after gorging themselves on mash.

There were lots of wrinkles of concentration and much slurping and licking to be heard while they investigated and devoured this latest introduction. Puppies are programmed to be little sponges for the first few months of their lives so new things are always welcomed with open interest and curiosity.

Even Mini was in the thick of things getting nice and dirty. It still startles me to see the size difference between her and her siblings as this photo clearly shows. When I see them everyday it's hard for me to discern the difference because my eye is accustomed to seeing her with them.

Miss Pink thinks real food is a good idea but where is Momma Leeloo? After all, we are still Very Small.

Never fear, Momma is close by but unless she is physically prevented from being in the room when the puppies eat, it's not hard to guess who will get the most food! Little babies learning to eat solids don't need competition from their mother who has been perfecting the art of eating for 3 1/2 years.

Mr Blue has it right. What a gentleman. He was all concentration for the most part and certainly did not end up in the dish as did some little greedy guts (Miss Purple).

Leeloo does get to eat whatever the puppies leave but did share with Mr Light Wheaton who wasn't quite done yet. Tomorrow it will be another meal and they will eat more and more until they are up to 3 meals a day and gradually weaned from Leeloo by about 5 1/2 or 6 weeks. I'm sure Leeloo is looking forward to that day!