Kids and siblings

At our last MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting, a local author encouraged us to write a letter to our great-great-grandchildren. I haven't actually gotten around to that, but one of the questions got me thinking. It was, "what is your favorite thing about your life right now?" If you haven't ever thought about that, you should! It's a pleasant thing to ponder.

My answer came quickly. There were a couple of runners-up. One is being pregnant--I try to never take for granted that feeling of a baby moving around in there, or being able to wear relatively comfortable clothes without having to "suck it in." The other is Kevin working at Woldumar. What a great place for the kids to grow up! They love going to work with Kevin now and then when I have off-day appointments and such. They're probably too comfortable there, but it's a fun (and educational!) second home.

Annie's class took a field trip to Woldumar last week!
Annie is also sporting her hip Woldumar glasses

But I think I would say my favorite thing about life right now is experiencing Nellie, Annie, and DJ figuring out what it means to be brother and sisters (soon to be brothers and sisters!) Maybe this is due in part to the fact that my own siblings (by birth and marriage) are some of my favorite people in the world. I love to be around them and live out our shared history.

I did have a random thought about brothers and sisters the other day, as I watched the kids playing in the bath. Siblings are the reasons we know: a) that we're really, super-duper special--but not that special; and b) that we've probably bathed in someone else's pee.

But I digress. The point is, I absolutely love listening to the kids playing together and entertaining themselves. The girls can think up some of the craziest things to play, and DJ is starting to get in on the action in new ways now that he can chase them around, talk more, and is willing to play Frozen, Powerpuff Girls, and My Little Pony. This isn't the first time this sort of thing has made an impression on me. In fact, I went back to old blog posts on the basis of a faint memory, and found basically the same note in a post four years ago.

And it's not just that I like to overhear the funny things they say and do when they're together, or the time it gives me to make dinner/fold laundry/pick up the last room they were playing in. I also appreciate the opportunity to help them work through stuff together, to learn how to get along and communicate with people they don't necessarily like all the time. I mean, let's face it. The happy-together times last for maybe 10 minutes at a time, with arguments, tears, and tales of "she told me I'm a terrible baseball hitter" in between.

Learning what it means to be brother and sisters also highlights what makes each child unique. Annie loves to dress up and imagine all sorts of things. Nellie loves to plan, orchestrate, and move around a lot. So far, DJ just wants to be a part of it all. He especially loves convincing one of the girls to push him around in his Cozy Coupe, build him something with his blocks (so he can destroy it), or play cars and trains.

I'll close with our new favorite family video, called Bad Annie Bandit. This was unrehearsed and totally spontaneous, and I think it illustrates what I'm thinking about. It all played out while I was making grilled cheese sandwiches. What gave Annie the idea that she wanted to be a bad guy with a mask is beyond me!

Goodbye to Maddie

Well, we put Maddie down today. It's a funny thing losing a pet. I mean, if I had a dollar for every time I thought or said an unkind thing about that dog, we'd have enough to cover all her final vet bills. She was kind of a grouchy dog, extremely possessive of her food and her "stuff," prone to snap at the other dogs and the kids. I don't think Maddie was anyone's favorite pet.

She actually came into our lives under rather strained circumstances. Kevin was working mall hours, I was working teacher hours, and we barely saw each other. He got it into his head that we needed a second dog and had been looking at rescued bird dogs online for awhile when he found Maddie. He showed me her picture, and I had to admit she was a cute little dog, what with the spot over her eye and all. But I really didn't like the idea, and strongly discouraged Kevin from pursuing it. When I went on the high school retreat for three days, he drove to Chicago and picked her up. I wasn't exactly pleased.

Maddie at her "foster home" the day Kevin got her

I swear Maddie had nine lives. Within a year, she climbed on the counter and found and ate an entire tube of Gorilla Glue. She and our furniture were covered in the stuff. Worse, the glue she ate expanded in her stomach into a football-sized rock. We refused the ridiculously expensive surgery, and watched her nearly starve to death. Then one day, she threw it all up, and was just fine. The only other time I remember Maddie sneaking something off the counter was the next spring, when she ate an entire box of paczkis overnight. I don't know if paczkis can kill a dog, but I almost did!

Maddie had more energy than any dog I've ever seen (which is why, when she barely got out of bed the last three weeks, we knew something was wrong.) She would tear in circles around the backyard, chasing birds and squirrels. Many, many times, I saw her "tree" a squirrel. She would stand for hours barking at it, until it would give up and jump out of the tree. Not many escaped unharmed. Maddie could also jump over the 4-foot fence in our backyard in Lansing, which was just really annoying.

I guess her energy is what made her a good hunting dog

But what I appreciated about Maddie was that she knew she was a dog. Connie has forever believed that she is a human, and darn it, she deserves to do human things, like sleep on furniture! Maddie, though, was happy to spend her hours outside or in her kennel. She was the one dog who didn't try to sneak upstairs or onto the couch. And she had some endearing qualities. Like, she liked to drink beer, and it made her sneeze. Now, we never actually let Maddie drink beer, but she would sit and lick empty bottles or glasses. Crazy dog.

Maddie walked into the living room like this one day

She loved sweets, too, and not just paczkis. Here, the dogs are gazing longingly
at my s'more.

She also went nuts when the heater came on at our Holly Way house (huh--she and Annie might have something in common.) She would run into our room and sleep in the tiny space under our bed because it was next to a heater vent.

Under the bed and dreaming

So yeah, Maddie was just a dog, and not a super lovable one, at that. Yet, the adults in this house haven't stopped crying on and off all day. (I won't say who cried the most.) Because after all was said and done, she'd lived with us for almost nine years. She was, I say reluctantly, a member of the family. This afternoon, Kevin and I spent time looking waaaaay back through pictures, and it was funny to remember that pre-kid time when the dogs played a central role in our family life.

Maddie gave me a Valentine gift one year

And then the kids came along, and there she was.

The time Kevin let the girls paint the dogs. Nellie always, for no known reason,
argued that Maddie was "her dog"

Nellie also loved to give the dogs baths.
Sidenote--this particular picture was taken right after she cut her own hair.

Family hike in the U.P.

If you look closely, you'll see my dad with DJ (wearing a bright orange hat) on his first hunting trip

And now she's gone. The kids are fine, of course. Nellie was sad, but immediately perked up when she realized it means she gets to get a cat sooner. Annie thought we were joking for several hours. We were actually at a loss trying to figure out how to convince her that the dog was gone. And DJ just kept asking, "Mommy still here? Connie still here? Chief still here?" and so on.

So, goodbye to our just-a-dog Maddie, who wasn't just a dog, really. She was a witness to our lives for eight years, and they've been eight great years.