Life with a dog

I love, love, love how much Audrey can now engage in conversation. She often wants to be the one talking at dinner, and tonight when I was trying to get her in her carseat, she stopped me to say, "Wait, I want to talk to you for a minute!" I told Audrey on the drive home that she and Eric would be taking Frisbee to the dog doctor on Friday. She was excited to let Eric know of this appt (he's the last to know about many things these days), but I was surprised that she also planned to talk to Fris about the upcoming appt.

Audrey and Frisbee have developed a special relationship. Frisbee was not very keen on this little girl initially. It took a while for her to adjust to a baby in the house, and then just when she thought she had Audrey figured out, Audrey started moving around. This took a lot of adjusting (for all of us, really). Audrey has been fascinated with Fris from a young age, but Fris could really care less. That is, until Audrey started eating table food. Especially meat. Fris started to see some benefit to befriending this little girl. Secretly though, it had been evident prior to this time that Fris had accepted Audrey into the pack.

Audrey's one and only "chore" at this time is to feed Fris. Audrey LOVES this job, and she takes it very seriously. She is not so keen though on Fris' poor manners - jumping up and down when she hears the food container, and waiting not so patiently for the scoop to hit her food bowl. She tries to be patient while Audrey carefully brings the scoop to the bowl. However, Audrey often drops a piece or two and insists on picking them up and putting them in the scoop prior to putting any food in Fris' bowl. Fris has to have the patience of a saint these days or the little redhead scolds her for not waiting properly.

When it was time to feed Fris tonight, Audrey headed to the food container, which peaked Fris' attention. Much to Fris' shagrin, Audrey realized she hadn't yet spoken to Fris about her upcoming appt. So, she holds Fris' face in her hands and very seriously says to the confused dog:

"Fris, I want to talk to you for a minute. You're going to the doggie doctor with me and daddy. Ok? And they're going to trim your nails and check your belly. Ok?"

Blank stare from the dog.

With prompting, Audrey fills the scoop with food but manages to spill most of the food on the floor. Fris is really quite beside herself about now as Audrey won't allow Fris to eat off the floor. So, Fris has to be guided outside while Audrey picks up the mess - ONE PIECE AT A TIME. Poor, poor dog. Audrey eventually got tired of picking up the mess (know that feeling!), and yells at Fris through the screen door: "Um, Fris you can clean up the rest!"

After everyone had a chance to finally eat dinner, and it was time for bed, Audrey and I were doing our nightly chat. I told Audrey about how much fun she would have this weekend seeing Grandma and Grandpa P, Aunt A, Uncle A, and cousins H and J. I tried to explain the concept of Easter egg hunting. I told her that the Easter bunny will be hiding eggs, and she will get to help find the eggs.

"Where does the bunny hide the eggs?"

"In the grass."

(Very serious look from the red head.)

"But there's poop in the grass!"

Life with a dog. Poor dog has no idea that round 2 will begin in June.