Little Wonders

The dogs stayed with Mom & Dad last week while DH and I went to Las Vegas for a work convention. We left Houston on Tuesday afternoon, drove to Marble Falls, spent the night, left the dogs, drove to Austin Wednesday afternoon, flew out to Vegas, stayed til Friday afternoon, flew back, drove back to Marble Falls...

It was 9pm when we finally arrived at Mom & Dad's. Dragon Lady and BIL were there, dropping off Niece to spend the weekend, and they had waited for us to arrive so we could see Niece3. Her first birthday is next week, so I was able to give her her gift, rather than have Mom & Dad ferry it for me.

I knew they wanted to get home, since it was late and they had an hour's drive, so DH went out to greet the dogs while I stayed inside to visit with the baby a bit (DL would never forgive me if I had gone to see my own "kids" first, plus I didn't want her to have to wait any longer).

All of the dogs crowded around the French doors that lead out to the patio from the living room. I could see them in the glass. Niece3 saw them, too, and showed off some of the baby sign language she was learning, pointing at the dogs and panting. It was cute. She's very friendly, very animated. She doesn't know me well, so I did some things to help her to warm up to me (Dad was holding her and playing with her), clapping my hands til she got all smiley and excited and started clapping her own. I held her for a bit, gave her her birthday gift, a hand-sewn patchwork Scottie dog that I had made (I made one for Niece2 for her birthday in April, and have already made one for Niece's birthday in December). She loved it, promptly putting the ear in her mouth to chew on.

After we said our goodbyes, I went out back to greet my dogs. Kansas was so happy to see me that she promptly dashed over to a large stick Airlie had left on the patio, picked it up, raced to my 6-year-old niece (who had come outside with us), handed it to her, and then proceeded to FETCH AND RETRIEVE the stick for several minutes.

If you don't know Kansas, you aren't aware that 1) she hasn't always been very comfortable around children. She was not socialized as a puppy and when I got her she was smack in the middle of one of those critical fear periods. It's only been through years of socializing Leo and Airlie with children (with Kansas along) and spending time with my nieces, nephew and friends' kids that she's grown to tolerate the presence of children. She will greet them politely, allow them to pet her, and then lose interest. And because of her hip dysplasia and arthritis, she doesn't play much. She'll fetch a ball or a Frisbee 2-3 times, and she's had enough. We haven't played a lasting game of fetch since she was a puppy. Watching Kansas not only initiate a game with my niece, but then PLAY with her repeatedly was astounding! I can only surmise that she was expressing her joy over having DH and I back, though we had only been gone two days. It's been some years since we went anywhere without the dogs, we don't even leave them at home alone for more than a few hours. The last time DH and I took a trip, it was our honeymoon 7 years ago, when Kansas was our only dog. I've left her and Leo with Mom & Dad once, for a weekend, when I flew out to spend some time with DH when he worked in Kentucky 3 years ago. I'm still amazed at this display of happiness.