Canine Co-Therapy, the Dragon Slayer and More

Someone is bound to think that the things I write that my four year old says and does must be exaggerated, but I assure you they are not. As a matter of fact, I can’t keep up with her. Right now, for instance, EG is constructing something out off Styrofoam and duct-tape. Let me back up, she got a new baby doll, with diapers, for Christmas. She has been changing them constantly, and recently started complaining about how many diapers, and how disgusting, with long sighs for emphasis. So, she decided to potty train. And this is what she has made, a toilet for her baby doll.

My older daughter, MG, is just as clever, but in different ways. She writes poetry, and songs (with music) for me, and she is concerned about her privacy on the internet. She must approve what I put out there. I like that – good boundaries. So I’ll just keep writing about EG until she gets annoyed and tells me to stop.

That said, this evening's sunset over the Alleghanies was gorgeous.

Then the girls and I enjoyed some of the neighborhood light displays before a dense fog set in.

We gathered up two neighbor kids for dinner at a local pizza shop.

This is not an amber ale or an IPA, it is ginger-ale mixed with diet coke and pink lemonaide. I promise.

While out, I happened upon and identified the anonymous snow-shoveler I wrote about in Gifts post. It is one of these dudes. Can you guess which one? He said I deserved some Single-Mom Karma back at me. Man, if I’d known I’d get somebody else to do the shoveling, I would have gotten divorced much sooner than I did! (Just kidding, that was rude, but irresistible.)

Speaking of my ex-husband, the wonderful father of our incredible daughters, here he is at my house on Christmas morning.

And here is my ex-boyfriend, BB, sitting across from ex-husband. The kids adore them both, and both are good friends to me. And watching little ones tear open gifts on Christmas morning is something that should definitely be shared.

Oh my, the toilet now has a flusher. Yes, that is a piece of candy corn. O.K., so this is supposed to be a post about pets. Canine C0-Therapy and such. For many years, my girlfriend/colleague, DAS, has used her Beagle, Sadie in therapy. DAS is someone I want to emulate. About four years ago, I started bringing my Italian Greyhound, Guido, into the consulting room, and we found the benefits to be numerous. It was devastating when ten-year-old Guido died suddenly, from liver cancer, this year. A few months after Guido’s death, I adopted seven-year old Skippy, whose owner had recently died. Skippy joined Matilda, a black Pug, two recently rescued kittens, Mulberry & Muffin, pet rats, Fluer and Poppy, and a beta fish. Our most recent beta fish was named Dragon, but when my furnace went out recently (for two weeks – subject of a future post,) I forgot about the beta in the unheated kitchen. I felt so guilty as I shoved its little body down the garbage disposal. I am officially a Dragon slayer. Why, why do I have so many animals . . .? Partly because I’m a sucker. Partly it is that my daughters have me wrapped around their every pet craving. Mostly, I guess, I like it.
And almost all of my clients who see me at my home office report numerous beneficial effects of the pet therapy. . . I’m going to ask my accountant if I can write off the food, litter, and vet bills as a business expense . . .

Well, EG is fast asleep with Skippy beside her, MG is enthralled in the pages of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, and my yucky cold is telling me to sleep, some more, or at least take enough cold medicine to kill a small . . .ooh, bad metaphor, nevermind.