A girl and her dog
It's been almost 5 months now since we said goodbye to our dear black lab Grady. While there are times I still miss him, I think we both have to admit that our lives have become dramatically easier without him. Looking back, he just wasn't himself during the last year of his life. Something just wasn't quite right with him. In fact, I think that his years in Switzerland was his heyday. Long walks, lots of fresh air, visiting the cows, many days at Mumpf (his kennel in the country overlooking the Rhine)... oh, the memories... that was the life.
I've often thought about what memories Madchen will have of Grady. Childhood pets were very dear to me, and I really wanted our daughter to have a similar experience. We're pretty certain now that, while she has tested negative to dog allergies, dogs are definitely an irritant to her already extremely sensitive eczema skin, so it doesn't look like we'll be having another dog in our home in the near future. This makes the Grady memories all the more important.
At this point, she still talks about Grady quite a bit. She'll say: "I miss Grady", or ask "Where Grady go?". When I ask her where Grady is, she says: "In heaven, with Phoebe and Grandma Char and Grandpa Dick" (my sister's former dog and my parents). And she likes to look at pictures of Grady, a few of which are around the house. But the cutest thing of all is when we read any of the Good Dog, Carl books.
(If you don't know Carl, he's a Rottweiler who is tasked by his owners with caring for the baby while the parents leave the house. There are usually very few words in the book, just pictures of the adventures of Carl and baby.)
She has decided that Carl is actually Grady, and she is the baby. As I read the books, she is insistent (and if you've ever met our girl, you know how insistent she can be) that I call them by their correct names: Grady and "Baby Eye-E-Sah" (that's how she pronounces her name). No matter how many times I say: "Then Carl took Baby out for a walk", or "Carl gave Baby a bath", she corrects me again and again: "NO, Grady take Baby Eye-E-Sah for a walk", or "Grady give Baby Eye-E-Sah a bath".
I always have to laugh. Carl really doesn't look like Grady, and Grady certainly never had babysitting duties, but I guess this means Madchen has some good memories of Grady in her life. And it always makes me smile.
I've often thought about what memories Madchen will have of Grady. Childhood pets were very dear to me, and I really wanted our daughter to have a similar experience. We're pretty certain now that, while she has tested negative to dog allergies, dogs are definitely an irritant to her already extremely sensitive eczema skin, so it doesn't look like we'll be having another dog in our home in the near future. This makes the Grady memories all the more important.
At this point, she still talks about Grady quite a bit. She'll say: "I miss Grady", or ask "Where Grady go?". When I ask her where Grady is, she says: "In heaven, with Phoebe and Grandma Char and Grandpa Dick" (my sister's former dog and my parents). And she likes to look at pictures of Grady, a few of which are around the house. But the cutest thing of all is when we read any of the Good Dog, Carl books.
(If you don't know Carl, he's a Rottweiler who is tasked by his owners with caring for the baby while the parents leave the house. There are usually very few words in the book, just pictures of the adventures of Carl and baby.)
She has decided that Carl is actually Grady, and she is the baby. As I read the books, she is insistent (and if you've ever met our girl, you know how insistent she can be) that I call them by their correct names: Grady and "Baby Eye-E-Sah" (that's how she pronounces her name). No matter how many times I say: "Then Carl took Baby out for a walk", or "Carl gave Baby a bath", she corrects me again and again: "NO, Grady take Baby Eye-E-Sah for a walk", or "Grady give Baby Eye-E-Sah a bath".
I always have to laugh. Carl really doesn't look like Grady, and Grady certainly never had babysitting duties, but I guess this means Madchen has some good memories of Grady in her life. And it always makes me smile.
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