roomies

i am in love.  with a dog.  more so than i have ever been before.  i feel sort of like i'm soulmates with little wonder wo ... even fourteen months after welcoming her into our family, i still feel the urge to shower her with kisses every time i see her.  if i ever happen to be sitting on the floor, she finds me and promptly reclines into my lap and flips for a belly rub.  and whenever we pull into our driveway, we always see her lounging on the front window seat, casually observing all the going-ons of the cul-de-sac -- and know that by the time we enter the house, she'll be standing in the mud room, her tail nub wagging as she serves as our welcoming committee. honestly ... is there anything better than a dog?

sadly, my children would say yes.  even though we've had dogs ever since they've been born, for whatever reason neither liam nor susanna are big canine fans.  this fact is always amplified whenever they have friends over who are dog lovers -- these other children dote on wonder, petting her and talking to her and even inviting her into their sleeping bags when they spend the night.  (she really is the sweetest thing.)  but liam and susanna hardly give her the time of day.  it hurts my heart a bit ... but wonder is undeterred.  she still follows them everywhere, attempts to coax them into playing with her, and yearns for their affection.  which, sadly, rarely comes.  hence my showering of hugs and smooches -- i try to make up for the lack of sibling love.

BUT -- we've recently made some strides, in a most unlikely way.  liam, for whatever reason, has recently developed a small fear of the dark.  the boy who has never once used a nightlight when going to bed all of a sudden is certain that someone is in his room.  right after we kiss him goodnight, chris and i are required to check his closet before firmly shutting the door.  he started requesting that the hall light be left on, and even after sweeping the premises for boogeymen, he is still convinced he is hearing things in the dark, unable to fall asleep.

so what is a frustrated pair of parents to do?  look no further than the four-legged brown friend in our midst, of course.  she lives up to her name: wonder wo mann to the rescue!

figuring that our superhero deserves a throne, we pulled in liam's old monogrammed stuffed chair from the playroom and set it up at the foot of his bed.  and now, every night after saying prayers, wonder crawls into it, curls up, and serves as liam's protector. a boy/pooch sleepover, every night of the week.  whether or not they fall asleep whispering about cute girls in his class, i'll never know.  

but the love is there ... 

liam decided to pretend he was asleep for this staged photo.  
for some reason, wonder wouldn't close her eyes on command.  must work on that