No longer standoffish and reserved toward the baby who rocked her world, Molly has a whole new attitude about Brennan, who is more interactive these days. Or maybe she’s succumbed to her new reality and adapted. Or maybe it’s because she’s simply scheming up ways to get his toys. If we’re laughing at Brennan, she’ll come in the middle of the action to be a part of it. If we’re giving Brennan a bath, she’s right there ready to lap up the bath water and get her fur all on the tub. If I bring out Brennan’s ball, she’s ready to pounce on it. Any new item I give Brennan to play with (such as a cleaned out container of Quaker Oats), she’s ready to sniff, chew, and demolish. You’d never think this dog was going to be eight years old in August! Her tongue is her most used resource to communicate her affection to Brennan, soaking his face with wet slobbers at random times throughout the day. She gets him to giggle when she’s licking his toes. How could something be so endearing and gross at the same time? We can be in the middle of our morning walk, when all of a sudden she’ll lay down and roll on her back for her tummy to be scratched, just to make me keenly aware of her presence and need for attention. That dog is not short a lick of love!
As the firstborn human child of ours, little did Brennan realize he would quickly need to learn how to share with the real firstborn of our family, albeit a canine.
He was quietly playing with his Quaker Oats container when Molly plopped down…
I was playing with this, Molly. I had it first.
Really, do you have to chew it, too? You already have your big claw paw on there.
You’re not playing fair!
Give it back, pleeeaasseee!
For the love!
Fine, I’ll be the nice one and let you have it.
Am I kidding myself to think he’ll not struggle sharing because Molly would have already hammered the concept into this young chap’s soul? Likely. Highly likely (especially when I already see tidbits of what will eventually emerge into tantrums one dreadful day).
However, if anyone needs to learn sharing at the moment, I think it’s the dog.
