Dogs....

Let me begin by saying I'm not a dog lover. I never had a dog as a kid, never even remember wanting one. Sure, they are cute enough, but I could live my whole life without owning one and still die content. Unfortunately, my disdain for dogs has turned into a fear of dogs for Addy & Lilly. Don't get me wrong, they love to watch them through our front window walking on the nature trail by our house. They love to see them at the park catching Frisbees and will laugh for hours after watching a dog in the lake in the summer. They love these animals...at a very safe distance. However, when asked to touch or be in close quarters with these animals, they pass. They know which of our friends have dogs and will ask me to call ahead if we are going over for a play date "just make sure it's safe, k mom?". It has been this way since the beginning, no matter what we said to try and convince them otherwise. Around the holidays, the game changed.

One of their friends got a puppy from Santa, despite me telling that mom that this would FOREVER skew Addy & Lilly's view of Santa, because now her Santa is very much cooler than our Santa. But, the plan was made and executed and by my surprise Addy FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS PUPPY. It was just her size and the poor thing allowed her to carry it like a stuffed animal without a whimper. She was quickly obsessed.

Addy & her first four-legged friend

It wasn't long after that and her imagination got the best of her. She began to talk to me about her 'new house'. In her 'new house' she had a 'new mom' who didn't make her eat vegetables. She also had a baby brother, a pink flamingo and a puppy. (Most of my close friends are chuckling reading this as Addy might have better luck getting this very 'real' mom to buy the flamingo before either of the other options :-)

We knew it had reached a new level last week when her pre-school daily report log stated, "Addy shared a lot during our circle time today when we discussed LOVE. She said she loved her mommy and daddy, grandma, grandpa and two dogs." Hilarious. Only my kid would have imaginary pets like most kids have imaginary friends.

So, I wasn't surprised after a valentine's day treat visit to Target with grandma where she let them each pick out their own present that Addy came home with this. It's her new obsession, she walks it, feeds it, plays with it, reads to it, etc. When she goes to bed, she even instructs me on what I need to do with it...wait....that reminds me, Zoe needs to go outside.

Addy & Zoe (don't judge the hair, we are trying to grow out her bangs!)