Before I had children I had my first baby, my dog Shelby. I was obsessed about not leaving her alone for too long, making sure she was fed right, exercised, and happy. I would give dog sitters a two page set of instructions if I was gone for one night. I thought she was my baby.
Then I had a human baby. Then I realized my dog, was a dog.
The level of care, concern and love you have for a child is beyond belief. I finally understood what parents go through. How intense it is to raise a wonderful, caring and happy person.
When I was pregnant with Coco, my mother decided to have a baby of her own. A dog baby. This new baby dog Gracie became her entire world. She was in love. There was no phone call without interruptions from Gracie. When I tell would tell a story about Landon, she would pipe in with one about Gracie. This would be fine, except it was a DOG.
I have heard from a few girlfriends namely T, and K, that their Mother in Law and Mother's do the same. In fact I heard one story where Ruby the dog bit one of her kids and of course it was the kids fault. I thought this was ludicrous until Gracie bit Landon and again Landon was blamed. WHOA!
This visit I found myself trying to one up the dog. I said listen, Coco said "Twinkle!", she said "Wow"! And my Mom would reply "Gracie knows squirrel and walk!" Then I would say, Coco gives the best hugs, and she would talk about how Gracie wakes her up with a kiss. I give up. I can only hope she doesn't get a horse, or llama or something when the kids are in college.
How about you? Does your Mom or Grandma have a dog baby? Do you find yourself competing?
Posts
