One Nutty Nutty Mutt

Our dog is crazy. Here's the story. Yesterday I decided to make lamb for dinner. I'm usually not a big fan of lamb, but I have this recipe my mom made me once long ago and I remember loving it, so I tried it. Just for the record, the recipe is great, but it turns out that I don't like lamb. I don't think I ever need to eat it again. Anyway,in the afternoon as I started browning and braising the meat, Alex went berserk. You're probably thinking he tried to climb the stove and steal the meat or something, but it was the opposite reaction. He started trying to climb out the front door. He ears were flat back, his tail was totally between his legs - these are not things he does often. Some dogs you look at the wrong way and their tail just goes right up there. Alex...you look at him the wrong way and he basically gives you the finger. So he's pretty much trying to claw his way out the front door. We opened up the back door and he slunk outside like we were about to beat him. Something about the smell of lamb totally freaks him out. Okay, it freaks me out a little bit too, but wow. Not only would Alex not come back in the house, he spent the rest of the day curled up under the trees in the farthest corner of our yard. And he still won't come in this morning. I scrubbed the kitchen down, and there is no lamb left in the house. But I can not get that dog back in our house. No offering tempts him within ten feet of the door. Weird.

An update on my feelings about my children: it's easier to love them when they're deathly ill, don't you think? Have no fear, my children are not actually anywhere near death, but Stomper sure had a rotten day yesterday. He's got some nasty combination of allergies and the pukies...the poor kid. He's doing better this morning, though still slightly feverish. But last night his little eyes were just red, he had huge circles under them, his skin was super pale, his little lips all parched....he looked awful! And he said cute things all day like, "Mom, my eyes just keep thinking it's nighttime!" He slept a lot during the day and then tucked himself into bed at 8:00. He's so skinny as it is that when he has a day of not eating and throwing up it kind of scares me. What a bony little man! Luckily Bitty has not appeared to have picked anything up, at least not yet. Stomper really seems to be struggling with something he's allergic too. I'm trying to get him in to an allergist, but that takes some time. Until then I guess we'll be enjoying a daily claritin cocktail and staying away from kitties. The real miracle of the day was that I spent the entire day inside the house with both kids and I was not insane by the time they went to bed. I was actually in a pretty good mood, believe it or not. I guess I really do like my kids after all!