We had a little party yesterday - a birthday party. For Miss Nellie! She turned one. I think Steve and I would have let it roll by with a "Happy Birthday!" and an extra long walk, perhaps. But you know, these kids and their birthday traditions. A tradition is a tradition, and a party had to happen. (I did stop short at whipping up a birthday crown for her, and none of them took me up on the offer to do it themselves. Hmn.)
The kids made her a peanut butter cake (Peanut Butter Delight - recipe found here). She seemed contentedly puzzled by the whole thing - frankly, I think all the singing and dancing and jumping up and down is precisely what she's come to expect around these parts. Raising a puppy with children (we've only ever done so before kids), is a challenge trickier than I even expected. There have been so many moments in the past year when the chaos has grown beyond my wildest imagination with the combination of very energetic children, food, toys, open doors, and normal, nutty, precocious puppy behavior. But that's part of the learning, part of the living, and part of the fun (that's what I tell myself when I'm pulling another skein of yarn out of her mouth, and stepping over a broken something-or-other with a baby on my back).
Truth be told, she is an absolute dear to tolerate us - and our full house of energy - as well as she does. We have been so very blessed by her temperament - she is a sweet pea, mild and loving. And there is nothing - nothing at all - like watching her love the children the way she does, and watching them soak up that love and love her right back. We are so glad she's here.
(For those curious, we have been greatly aided in the past year by the books of Ian Dunbar, including the DVD Dog Training for Children.)
And now we're onto some more birthday celebrating. Thanks to the math of dog years, someone is turning the exact same age as Nellie! Fancy that! More good times ahead...
