Dog Sitting

For the next ten days, we’re dog sitting one of our dog’s littermates. Now, just about the only thing more excited than a vizsla is two vizslas, so it stands to be an energetic and chaotic week and a half. The girls are looking forward to the dog chaos, as anything new and different holds some special allure at this age.

We’ve kept our dog’s big strong brother on several occasions now, so we’re all old friends and have a system down. First there’s the competitive feeding for the pair, where they race to finish their food just in time to race over and check their brother’s just-emptied bowl. Then there’s the trick of settling them down to sleep at night, instead of staying awake all night playing, waking the entire house with their high-flying antics and crashes into furniture—crate training is a must for any dog owner. And of course it’ll be great to see our dog so exhausted from playing all day every day that I won’t have to feel guilty for not walking him more often.

Really, the only member of the household who won’t be thrilled to see our dog’s brother return is the cat. But thanks to a run-in with our now-gone cat Alley, the 8-pounder who took on this rambunctious 55-pound vizsla visitor and left him with a Zorro-like tattoo across his chest, he has a healthy respect for (okay, call it fear of) cats.

So, let the wild dog-rumpus begin…

Baby Brother

Tonight String Bean informed me that she doesn’t play with boys much at school, because she just doesn’t like boys all that much. I chuckled and told her that’s pretty normal for her age, but that she’ll like them more as she grows up. She considered this briefly, then said, “Except a baby brother. I would really like to play with a baby brother. He’d be so cute, and I’d be very good friends with him.” She gave me a knowing look (or knowing, for a four-year-old). Rather than telling her there’s no chance of that happening, as both hubby and I agree we’re done having kids, I just changed the subject.

I remember having my own phase of wishing for a baby brother. It was derailed temporarily by my parents’ divorce, but then resumed when my step-father moved in with my mom. But I never got my baby brother. Instead, I learned to stop fighting with my sister so much, and we became best friends. Since my girls are already best friends, I haven’t got that in the pipeline to satisfy her wish. Instead, I guess I need to get her a little more cousin time. Sure, her cousin is a girl instead of a boy, but at 4 months old, baby girls and baby boys aren’t all that different. And after that, we’ll just see if another cousin comes along (when my sister and brother-in-law are ready, although my sister is already saying she wants another baby, and soon is fine by her), and maybe it’ll be a boy, the kind of boy String Bean thinks she’d like to play with and be very good friends with.