Biting the Hand that Feeds You

[Diego feeding Qori delicious food]

When I first found out about my pregnancy way back two years ago I went through a few psychological stages:

1. Denial - after seeing so many negative tests, this test couldn't possibly be right.
   
2. Fear - My life is going to change! How am I going to handle this?
   
3. Acceptance - OMG I'm totally preggers!


4. Fear again - What if my aggressive-to-other-dogs-dog is not just aggressive to other dogs?

Throughout the entire pregnancy while I was a flurry of emotion and hormones, the topic of my dog came up time and time again by family members and my husband. I felt like the odd woman out, always defending my sweet dog, yet not trusting a single bone in his mouth body. He had so much to prove, and I had so much to protect now.

After the baby was born, my dog went through a few psychological stages:

1. Denial - what baby? I don't see that a baby even exists


2. Fear - doesn't that wheeled walker have brakes?


3. Acceptance - OMG, that's totally a miniature human


4. Fear - OMG, the miniature human is TOUCHING ME! I gotta blow this Popsicle stand!

This month, Diego has displayed the fine art of sharing his belongings whatever is in his hand at the time. It all started when he wanted to feed me Kix cereal. He cracked up each time that he put a piece of cereal in my mouth and I followed with an over-dramatic "CRUNCH!" Now he feeds me other delicious items such as:

• the remote control
  
• his shoes


• mail
  
• my cellphone

To my dog's heart's content, he rolled this practice over to the dog and began feeding him crackers. Now I believe that the dog has reached the final stage of acceptance, and of course it happened with food. I've noticed lately that Qori doesn't scurry off when Diego wobbles on, crawls over, or even smacks on him anymore. I guess it's true that dogs don't bite the hand that feeds them.

At least for now...

[Diego feeding Qori delicious paper]