Critter Kingdom

Suzy-dawg learns what she wants to learn. So far she's learned that when I put on my jeans and grab my keys, but not the leash, she'd best run straight upstairs to try to avoid my putting her in her crate. When she sees me put treats in her crate, she stays upstairs long enough that I have to hunt her down in order to leave the house. Despite my "crate is great" campaign, I'd say she hates the crate, wouldn't you?

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Tonight I managed to steal the television from my son for a bit so I could watch the start of the Academy Awards. When the lovely Jennifer Garner took the stage to announce the first award, my son said, "Wow, Mommy, she's almost as pretty as you! And she's really pretty, so that means you're even prettier!" Gotta love that.

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Suzy is a tad spoiled, and it's all my fault. I had some leftover soup late last night, so I spooned a bit onto her cheapo, boring dogfood so she'd eat it. Of course, she mostly wanted to lick the soup off each piece of dogfood without eating the actual chunks, but she did eat some. Today I put regular food in her bowl; she sniffed it and looked at me expectantly. No way, girlfriend. We're back to our normal routine now.

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The kiddo has a cough. Again. I'm dealing with my second cold in a month, and now he's got it, poor dear. I let him watch the Pokemon marathon today so he could rest up. It's my goal to get him significantly better so he can go with his dad to Arizona for the Padres' spring training as planned. I've been asking God to give me a third cold in exchange for healing the kid sooner rather than later. It's a pretty good deal if you ask me, and I'm hoping He takes me up on it.

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This afternoon, I was near the front door and naturally Suzy was right on my heels, so I bent down to pet her. She immediately shied away, no doubt thinking I was about to put her in the crate of doom; I've occasionally had to trick her into thinking we're going outside so I can grab her and completely ruin her day. She seemed to be undecided on whether to beg for a skritch or run upstairs, so she rolled over on her back and pleaded cuteness. I bent down to scratch her belly and she peed! Since she was on her back, you can imagine the logistics of this. That dog is so...special.

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I just spent the last twenty minutes "petting" the coughing kiddo's feet to help him fall asleep. It's a little trick I devised when he was a baby and I wanted him to fall asleep quickly; back then, I'd gently tickle his hands or feet, sometimes his belly or back. Occasionally, like tonight, he asks for this before bedtime, and I try to oblige. I love that kid so damn much.