Welcome to our family

By Allan Olson

After a full year in our new home, we finally added a new family member to our household. This new family member is only six weeks old and he is lazy, rambunctious, playful and whiny all at the same time. Is it just me, or does that sound like a kid?

We picked up our new family member on Saturday evening from a relative who was willing to give up this little bundle. We left my aunt’s house with a new addition to the family, and the fights began.

“I want him to ride with me,” Alivia said. “He likes me the best.”

“I want to hold him,” the remaining three chorus members chimed in, all clamoring to give their love to our new puppy.

“He’s riding with me,” mom said. That statement pretty well ended the discussion.

We crashed at my brothers’ place that evening, and the contest continued.

Every kid wanted their chance to play with him; for some reason, they couldn’t all play with him at the same time.

“Put that dog down!” I’ve probably said that a hundred times in the two days we’ve had him. “He has four legs, let him walk,” I keep saying, mostly to the girls.

Abigail is probably the worst; she feels it’s just another baby that she needs to smother with attention.

The decision to get a dog is easy for some, but for us it was a discussion topic many times over the past year.

My niece even “threatened” to get my kids a dog for Christmas last year. That nearly sent me to a boiling point, and the idea was quickly quashed.

We promised the kids that when we moved to a place where we could have a dog we would, and we have been reminded of that several times over the past year.

On the way home Sunday morning, of course the kids wanted to hold him again, and once again their pleas were vetoed by mom.

“Having a dog is a big responsibility,” Marcus said Sunday afternoon on the ride home, explaining to his siblings how they would all have to take care of him.

When we got home on Sunday, we let the kids take him around the yard. Their idea of that was to walk him around in few circles and call it good.

So then dad took him around the house, into the garage, back around the house and into the backyard. All the way his little puppy legs were trudging through what deep snow we have remaining.

The biggest argument we are going to have is what the dog’s role will be in the house. I’m not a fan of pets inside – period. However, since this is still a little puppy and it is a little chilly outside, I’ve relented.

We’ve designated a room for him, with his own door for going outside (of course, someone has to open it for him). We also need to “train” the kids on which door he’s supposed to use.

He is only allowed in that room, and our living room downstairs, since it still has old carpet. He is not allowed in the kids’ room (we shall see how that works when we aren’t looking), and he’s not allowed upstairs.

So for now, the kids are loving him, spoiling him rotten and giving him every ounce of their attention, just like they would with a new toy. Hopefully, this will last a lot longer than it does for a new toy.

It will be interesting to see how the remainder of the week goes, since Alivia will get him all to herself for a couple days. Another interesting part of the week will be when we have three extra house guests and one less adult for the last half of the week.

My wife is leaving again; she is going to do some genealogy research with her mom and her sister – at least that’s her excuse. I will be left with seven kids, ranging in age from almost 15 down to 4, and our new dog, which we have named Simon James Alexander Baxter III (but we’re calling him BOB), and most likely my niece’s dog, too.

I’m sure I will survive the weekend, but I’ll probably end up with a few less strands of hair.

P.S. Those curious about the name, search for Sandra Boynton and the song 15 Animals.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week. Remember – take a kid fishing, and watch out for school buses on the road. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.