A Girl and a Dog

When do kids stop being infants and start being toddlers?  

Around the time they start getting their naughty streak, I'd guess.   Sofia is now all toddler.

Polar is a very tolerant dog.  He tolerates when she sits on him, he tolerates when she pulls his tail.  He tolerates her getting much more attention than he gets.  He tolerates his bathroom breaks being less urgent than her diaper changes and getting chastised when he takes food from her.  

Only Li'l Miss has picked up on that last one.  Oh, yes she has.

Sofia has been found out.  Today, she got a string cheese.  Marched off eating it as always.  She came to us fussing and pointing at Polar.  We sent him to his bed and gave her more cheese.  She went to the livingroom, and I followed.  I witnessed her go to Polar's bed, put the cheese in his mouth, then turn around and sob.

Little Stinker.

Done

And...it's done. I signed. As of November 3rd, I will no longer be employed.

I am amazed at how non-scared I feel. How I know this is the right decision.

Life is looking up, folks.

Except for my dog. Dude, he's got gas. Give an allergic dog fish oil and predisnone and see what happens. It doesn't sound, or smell, pretty.

Oh, HAI! What did you do this weekend?

Clean a little? Play outside?

Go swimming? Visit a friend? Relative?

Poison a pet?

Me too. No, wait, you DIDN'T do that last one? Yeah, me neither. Or I mean, yeah. I did. I did all those things. Not necessarily in that order.

Before I go on, let me tell you, HE IS OKAY. Deep breath. Breathe in the peace, out the guilt.


My dog gets allergies. We've tried a lot of remedies to help him. Apparently he is allergic to August.

We switched his food. We bathe him weekly and put oatmeal, aloe, skin soothing lotion on him (ever lotion a DOG? Yeah, it is hairy and gross), we give him Fish Oil. We give him Benadryl. He's been on prednisone. We've seen a vet. Twice.
Mostly, we are able to control the allergies until the frost, when they go away.

Saturday, we ran out of Benadryl. We were busy. No time for the store, no time to call the vet. He was red. Itchy. His droopy, dark eyes begged for relief.
So. Without thinking (does much thinking happen in this head? Not much lately), we gave him other allergy medicine. The kind with a 'claritin' and a 'D' in it.
Know that ingredients are in there? Let me tell you.
A) an antihistimine. Good for those itchy eyes and red skin.
B) psuedonephrine. Good for killing dogs.

So, yeah. We gave our dog "medicine" that could kill him. How's that for "first, do no harm", huh?

He started acting funny. He couldn't sit still. He couldn't even eat a treat in one sitting. He paced. He circled. We began to suspect foul play.

So, I did what all grown-ups do in this type of situation. I called my mommy. Who told my dad. Who informed me that I, in fact, gave my beloved dog what could be a lethal dose of a doggie poison. Becca, in the living room, with the Claritin.

So, think I should be allowed to continue to mother this young human in my care?