Little Puppy Dog

Forgive my delinquency in blogging about the fourth member of our household, a.k.a. "Puppy Dog," or "Little Puppy Dog," or "Olsen." Puppy Dog goes everywhere with Trey these days. This started back in January when we officially weaned Trey from his pacifier. He found another security object in Puppy Dog (as well as his blanket, a.k.a. "Monkey," but that's a subject for another post).

Puppy Dog goes everywhere with Trey. He's just a little basset hound beanie baby, but he is pretty cute, even to a non-dog lover like me. And since we have another basset hound beanie baby that is essentially the same dog in a larger size, this one is known affectionately as "Little Puppy Dog," while that one is "Big Puppy Dog."

As the weeks went by after Trey's initial attachment to Puppy Dog, I realized how traumatic it would be for anything to happen to the little guy. And, after one tragic morning when Little Puppy Dog woke up covered in urine that leaked from Trey's overnight diaper, forcing me to wash him and preventing Trey from taking him in the car that day, I realized we might have a need for a second Little Puppy Dog. So I bought a back up online (fortunately there is a full stock of Little Puppy Dogs out there, including some on Amazon for $0.01 + shipping). And whenever I couldn't find Little Puppy Dog #1 at a crucial time like bedtime, I simply swapped him for Little Puppy Dog #2 until the original could be located, and vice versa (this has caused some confusion on a couple occasions when Trey spotted both at the same time, but we simply explained that #2 was "Mommy's Puppy Dog." Yes, we are not above telling certain convenient lies to our children.) This constant switching led to Daddy's coming up with the clever nickname "Olsen," i.e. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, who famously switched out for one another while playing Michelle Tanner on Full House.

Trey knows his puppy dog's name is Olsen, but he still always calls him Little Puppy Dog. He takes good care of Olsen, feeding him dinner and putting him down for naps several times a day. But the sweetest sight is seeing Trey fast asleep at night, curled up in a blanket, hugging his Little Puppy Dog.