I'm probably the type of person who should really have a
pet. Something to love and show affection to.. I'd totally be the type of pet
owner that would spoil it. Treats, new toys, a nice collar. I probably wouldn't
even buy them Ol' Roy or whatever the Walmart brand of cat food is. Not saying
I'd go Purina but I'd find something decent. I can imagine the absolute
excitement that I'd feel whenever hypothetical Rover the dog or Frisky the cat
learned a new trick. Alas, I don't have a pet right now so I'll just have to
settle for being excited when Ellie learns a new trick. Fortunately for me,
that seems to happen nearly each day.
 |
| If you're wondering, apparently the brand name is 'Special Kitty'. |
Honestly when Bethany left for work this morning, I was mildly
nervous. You see, Ellie had been up most of the night crying. Bethany dealt
with her for most of the night before finally passing her off to me around
3:30. I think Bethany may have been concerned for Ellie's continued safety if
the baby stayed with her mommy any longer. Luckily for me, YouTube is a good
place to find infant hypnotization videos. Or as you may know it, fish swimming to instrumental music. Twenty minutes in and Ellie was down for the count.
Ellie was nothing but a dream baby throughout the day. She
ate her meals just as she was supposed to. Napped according to her schedule.
Perhaps most importantly, she played crazy hard. Between all of the stair
climbing, hide and seek, and opening and closing an old shoe box, she was
having a terrific time. In fact, she was so good that I decided to take her out
of the house for the afternoon. Now, I realize that a fair number of Ellie's
days probably sound similar so just stay with me for a minute.
My parents were in town for the afternoon so I went and met
them at Sam's Club so that I could stock up on some needed groceries. Per the
new protocol, I lovingly placed Ellie into the top of the shopping cart and
tightened up the seat belt to help her stay in place. With that, my dad took
control of the cart happily pushing Ellie throughout the store. At least I
assumed that was the plan. The first time we stopped moving, I glanced behind
me to see my dad lifting Ellie up into his arms to carry her around. Say it
with me; awwww.
Even though Ellie was
safe and sound in my dad's arms, she still wanted to know that I was watching
her. Every so often, I would glance over and catch her gazing right back at me.
As a reuslt, I decided to take the opportunity to work on a little trick I'd
been teaching her. I really want Ellie to be a people person as I'm convinced
it totally makes life easier. Therefore, I've been attempting to teach Ellie
how to wave at people with little to no success up to this point. At least I
believed that had been the case. When I waved at Ellie, she met me with a huge
grin, lifted her little arm and flopped it up and down, all while laughing
hysterically.
Of course, like any person would, when you teach something a
new trick, you're bound to run it into the ground. As my dad carried Ellie
lovingly around the store, I would inevitably peek around an endcap to see the
two of them lumbering by. As soon as Ellie would meet my gaze, I'd smile and
wave at her. Each and every time, she would respond in kind and add a big laugh
to boot. By the end of the trip, my dad was laughing so hard at Ellie's new
trick that he was almost crying.
 |
| Largely reminiscent of Ellie's waving... |
Now, I was really disappointed that Bethany hadn't gotten to
be present for Ellie's wave-a-thon. However, I assumed that Ellie would keep on
doing her new trick when her mommy got home. I may have been mistaken about
that though. After multiple attempts, the closest I would get to a wave was one
floppy hand wave accompanied by an utter lack of enthusiasm. That's what I get
for not recording it earlier.
And thus, I found the primary difference between a pet and a
baby; it's much easier to keep your pet engaged with tricks. The baby will
invariably get bored and move on. Yep, definitely time for me to get a pet.
#DaddyWrite
No comments:
Post a Comment