It was fun hanging out with Via all day, just the two of us. It was like old times, like before I started going to school. Back then, I couldn't wait for her to come home from school so she could play with me before starting her homework. Now that we're older, though, and I'm going to school and have friends of my own that I hang out with, we never do that anymore.

So it was nice hanging out with her, laughing and playing. I think she liked it, too.

We called the puppy Bear because when Mom first saw him, she said he looked just like a little bear cub. I said: "That's what we should call him!" and everyone agreed that that was the perfect name.

I took the next day off from school -- not because my elbow was hurting me, which it was, but so I could play with Bear all day long. Mom let Via stay home from school, too, so the two of us took turns cuddling with Bear and playing tug-of-war with him. We had kept all of Daisy's old toys, and we brought them out now, to see which ones he'd like best.