Puppy Love

I stopped by my parents house after I picked up the kids yesterday so that we could see my sister's new dog. I'm not a huge fan of chihuahuas but puppies, no matter what breed, are pretty darn adorable. It's a whole other story when they grow up but puppies are usually cute all the time. So, two significant things happened during this visit.

FIRST.... Jacob let my sister's friend, Michelle, carry him. Let me just say that this was his first time meeting Michelle. Any of Jacob's godparents who are reading this are probably super jealous right now. Jacob is very discerning about who he lets carry him. If he's in a good mood, he'll let anyone he sees on a regular basis carry him. If he's in a bad mood, he'll only accept ME or, if I'm not around, either grandmother. Yes, he even snubs his dad if he's grumpy. If you are not in the category of "regular basis", "Mom" or "Grandma", then you are out of luck. You can TRY to carry him but he'll tolerate you for one or two minutes TOPS before he starts to squeal for someone more familiar to take him back. So when Michelle took him from me and he gave her his two-tooth grin, I just about fell on the floor. Then he started CRACKING UP as she played with him - unbelievable! My sister and I were stunned! It was so amazing to me that I had to take a picture so that I'd have proof when I told my husband the story. My sister thinks we might have stumbled upon another potential babysitter. Can't have enough of those, that's for sure!

SECOND.... Katelyn fell head over heels over my sister's dog, Teddy. Katelyn inherited this love of all animals from Alfred. Our kids know that it isn't too hard to sucker convince their dad to get them a pet. We've had finches and hermit crabs, but only because I was out-voted. Alfred had a saltwater tank which he has since traded for the beautiful koi pond in the backyard. We have the sweetest cockerspaniel in the whole wide world (and Katelyn's best buddy ever), Mika. My dad (also an animal lover) has cockatiels that are temporarily residing in our backyard until he has a chance to move them back home. Alfred is going to miss those birds, too, I'm sure. Anyhow, here is Kate with Teddy.

Aw, so sweet, huh? Here's the thing about Katelyn. If any of you were a Tiny Toons fan as a child, you may remember Elmira. Katelyn IS Elmira. Just slap an orange wig on her and there you go. For those of you who never watched this cartoon, Elmira was a little girl who absolutely L-O-V-E-D animals but the animals were terrified of her because she was just too rough and with them. She would hug a kitty-cat super tight until the eyes were bulging out of his head and proclaim "I'm gonna love ya and hug ya and SQUEEZE ya!" Oh, that is SO my girl. Have I mentioned that her favorite animal is a SNAKE? We don't have any pet snakes at our house (nor will we EVER) but when we go to the zoo, we definitely have to bring her to see the snakes. So tell me how she can adore snakes and be deathly afraid of ants? I just don't get it.

When Katelyn was a crawling baby, she used to follow our dog, Mika, around and try to grab him by his short, stubby tail or his long ears. Mika used to run away from her and he'd come up to us, eyes pleading as if begging for us to save him from her. Since then he has grown to accept her presence and tolerates her abuse lovin'. She will drag him by the collar to play with her outside or try to put him in our coat closet (she always gets in SO much trouble for doing that!) or she'll hook his leash up to a piece of furniture in the backyard and we'll wonder "Why is he just sitting there?" before we realize that he had been tied to the furniture the whole time (she ALSO gets in trouble for that!). She hugs him too tightly, rubs his belly and/or his head just a tad bit too hard, tries to cut his hair when we aren't looking, gives him multiple "baths" (aka pours water over him) a day. She really does love him to pieces, despite how rough she is with him. With sisters that are old enough that they may not have the patience to play for as long as a 4 year-old would like, Mika is sometimes Katelyn's only companion when she plays in the backyard. I love to watch her from the window, talking so animatedly to him while he sits or lays obediently beside her. Sometimes she's got her feet in the pond, giggling hysterically as the fish nibble her toes. Love, love, love it!

Back to Katelyn's new found love, Teddy. He is so tiny that he fits perfectly on her lap. His teeth are itty bitty things so when he nips her, it doesn't hurt. She taps his head and tells him "No!", just like Ninang Twinkle told her to. Katelyn was so smitten that she wouldn't let Desiree or Jacob play with him. When I told her it was time to go home, this was her reaction.

(Note: She cried HARDER when she knew I was going to take the picture and then stopped crying for a second so she could see how it turned out on my camera phone before she continued to cry me a river.)

So the whole ride home, Katelyn is crying and asking me if we can get a dog for her just like Teddy. Alfred and I want to get a labrador retriever but we both agreed we'd wait until Jacob is older, to be fair to the dog. It's hard enough taking care of ONE baby.

Me: We'll get another dog SOME DAY but ours will probably be bigger than Teddy.

K: I don't WANT a bigger dog. I want a SMALL dog. *pout* A small dog like Teddy.

Me: *silence*

K: Can we go to the pet store NOW?

Me: Daddy has to be with us when we go to the pet store and Daddy's not home yet.

K: Ok, we'll wait for Daddy to come home and THEN we'll go the pet store, ok?

Me: *sigh*

Notice that, though I mentioned that we'd get one SOME DAY (which I don't think she even noticed me saying), I never actually answered NO to her request to go to the pet store. Katelyn fell asleep shortly after this and as I carried her from the car to the house, she said to me drowsily, "when daddy gets here we'll go to the pet store" and fell back to sleep. When I put her down on the couch to sleep, she forced herself awake because she was determined to wait for her dad. He had a softball game so he didn't get home until 10:30 and, by this time, Katelyn could barely keep her eyes open. She mumbled something about pet store before she succumbed to sleep. Alfred was upset that I implied that we would be taking her to get a dog. I only did what I did because it broke my heart to see her so sad. In retrospect, I should have just been honest and let her cry about it until she was over it. I forget that she is just like her sister, Alana, with the memory of an elephant (get it? "elephants never forget"?). This morning, as we were loading the kids into Alfred's car to take them to school and grandma's house, I heard Katelyn ask "Daddy, can we go to the pet store?" and he rolled his eyes at me before he got into his car. Um... oops? We're going to continue to fight it but Katelyn can be very, VERY persistent. Don't be surprised if you see photos of a new puppy anytime soon.

If you have eleven minutes to kill, here is a taste of Elmira.