Life Lessons

Ugh! I have puppies! I am totally not an animal person. But Tony and (evidently) my kids are. So, now I have two very adorable and messy puppies at my house. One is supposed to be Alexis' but since they can't have pets where they live, I am keeping hers until they move or something. UGH!!

So, now I have two puppies. The kids are all excited about finally being able to have a pet that breathes and they can touch. (the ant farm didn't allow for much contact). But they are also finding out that having cute little rambunctious puppies isn't 24-hour nonstop fun. I make the kids feed and water the puppies, pay attention to them, and clean up after them.

The only fun part for me so far has been picking out the names. One puppy is white with tan spots and the other one is completely black. The white one is ours and the black is "owned" by Alexis. Alexis decided to name her puppy Shadow. It's cool because it fits.

Xander wanted to name ours Coco.

Why, you may ask? No clue. I think maybe after a character from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Anyway, I didn't care much for that name so Tony suggested we all come up with 3 name-candidates for the puppy. These are the ones we came up with:

Kalista:
1. John
2. Michael
3. Joseph
(I'm not sure if she thought this puppy would turn into her son or something.)

Xander:
1. Jaren
2. Eggan
3. E
(completely different from kalista's choices. and xander tried to pick Jaren again for his 3rd choice but i told him that was not allowed.)

Tony:
1. Plankton
2. Courage
3. Ustis
(he's as bad as the kids with cartoons.)

Jennifer:
1. Milo
2. Patrick
3. Sokka
(i can't help that i watch a lot of nickelodeon)

Through a lot of voting and dialing in to the American Idol vote counters, we finally decided on Courage. (from Courage the Cowardly Dog). No one really calls him that though. Kalista calls him Baby and Xander just calls him Dog. I don't call him anything because I don't want him near me. I don't know what it is. I just don't like animals very much. Maybe it's the fact that I have an allergic reaction every time one of them touches me. I don't know.

Anyway, the life lesson that has come out of this whole situation is that the kids are learning what responsibility is. This morning when Kalista & Xander came to my work, I asked if they had checked on the puppies yet. They said no so I told them to go make sure they're okay and if they need food or water. Begrudgingly, the started walking back to the house.

As they were walking out, Kalista said, "I love them and all but they sure are a lot of work."

Then I had a great idea. So, now I am thinking of buying them each a puppy as soon as they get into high school so it will give them an idea of what a baby would be like to take care of. Genius!!