My cousin told me that when her daughter first entered preschool, and her teachers were attempting to teach her the concept of “sharing is caring,” she began to use it for her own advantage.

In other words, whenever she saw another child playing with a toy she liked, she would march on over, tell the poor kid, “Sharing is caring!” and take the toy for herself! 

Since Claire and BebeDeux will only be 13 months apart in age, we have been hoping that they will learn to share at an early age without much intervention from us. But recent events are leading me to believe that perhaps Claire is already starting to grasp the idea…

A few days ago, as Claire sat on the couch playing with her toys, she got ahold of a nearby container of puffs and pried it open.

Since a bunch of the puffs spilled onto the couch before I could get to her, I decided that she might as well eat what she had spilled before I attempt to clean the mess.

Now, long time readers will know that one of the reasons we love Comang is due to his lack of interest in human food. Even if we place a plate of ribs in front of him, he will just sniff it and let it be (see the proof here).

This has changed in the recent months, as Claire began solids.

Don’t get me wrong — Comang still leaves J and my food alone. It’s just that he has developed a taste for Claire’s food (perhaps because so much of it ends up on the floor?): congee, Mum-Mums, puffs, and other various snacks. It is not unusual to find him following Claire as she buzzes around in her walker, dropping snacks in her path, or lurking under her high chair waiting for food to rain down from the sky.

(Sometimes, we will even call to him after Claire has finished eating to “vacuum” the mess on the floor.  )

My new cell phone will arrive Wednesday. Until then, you will need to
continue to put up with my current one which takes bad photos.

Back to the story.

As soon as Claire began to eat the puffs on the couch, Comang walked on over and sat next to her, giving her his “please feed me” look.

And to my amazement, as Claire picked up the next puff, she handed it over to him!

Comang is still a bit scared of Claire, so he wouldn’t take it directly from her hand. Instead, he would wait until she dropped it in front of him, then gobbled it up.

Claire and Comang continued this routine — one puff for her, one puff for him — until all the puffs on the couch were gone.

Then can you guess what happened?

Comang, who was clearly not satisfied, gave Claire a “I want more” look.

Claire then grabbed her pacifier and tried to give that to him!

I could not stop laughing. At Comang’s reaction (which was a look that plainly stated, “What the heck is that? I don’t want that crap!”) or at Claire’s obvious confusion at his refusal of the pacifier.

As I’ve stated before, this tenth month of Claire’s life has definitely been the most fun. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next.

I guess today is a doggy post day!

I have to say that I completely sympathize with the dog’s owner…and I’m sure I will empathize even more after BebeDeux is born.

(Comang feels the same way too. When Claire is being especially loud or obnoxious, he will let out a big sigh and go into our room — where it’s dark and quieter — to take a nap.)

Via Reddit.

Meet Comang.

An old picture of our shih-tzu, before (like my husband likes to say)
his “manhood was taken away”

He may never pee or poop in the house. But he likes to leave his mark in other ways.

How? By smearing his eye boogers all over our walls and moldings.

I present to you exhibits A and B for your consideration:

We first discovered these markings a few months after we adopted him two years ago. It’s a pretty smart move if you think about it — why use his clumsy and sharp-nail-filled paws to remove his eye boogers, when it’s easier to drag the side of your face against the wall and the molding around each door?

But it’s kinda gross too.

I cleaned our walls and moldings the best I could, and in order to discourage him from continuing this nasty habit I started to diligently clean his eyes every day.

But he continues to do this. I don’t know if it’s become a habit or what, but he refuses to stop (and many times, he’ll do it while we are not looking).

Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can get him to stop?

And  if anyone can chime in with the best way to clean this solidified gunk from our walls and moldings, I’d really appreciate it too. 

No, not for me. I wish I could go on a business trip. I was only sent on 1-2 trips per year when I worked, so I actually quite enjoyed them and would LOVE to go on any sort of trip right now.

The business trip is for J, who will be shipped off to Silicon Valley next week for three days.

I hadn’t realized that “mid-July” is literally next week, so I had been putting off on making any sort of plan for our household while my better half is on the other side of the country.

Option 1: Stay home and stick to my normal routine as much as possible. Comang will have to be walked while I push Claire in the stroller (I hate doing this because he likes to be extra difficult when the stroller is out with us) and I may have to forgo a couple of showers. Also, I tend not to eat much when J is not here (I sometimes forget to eat. I know, it’s bad, but he has to constantly remind me to eat.) which could be a blessing or a curse. J might return to find our condo in disarray, with an attention-starved dog and a stinky, skinny wife.

Option 2: Ask our part-time nanny to come in for some overtime. However, this will depend entirely on her schedule.

Option 3: Go stay at my parents’ for the duration of J’s trip. While I would appreciate the nighttime help (as both of them will be at work during the day), I’m still pretty iffy on whether Claire will be able to sleep away from home. Take yesterday, for example. Girlfriend refused to sleep for seven hours while we were there. She needs her crib to sleep well.

What would you do?

Update, 7/6/11:

Thank you to everyone for your input. A new situation has arose which will not allow me to take Claire to my parents, so it’ll have to be option 1 or 2 (our nanny has yet to get back to me on her schedule).

Lately I have been losing my patience with Comang. So much so, that the thought of giving him away has entered my mind on more than a few occasions. 

Our beloved shih-tzu has a classic case of first child syndrome. He is insanely jealous of the attention that Claire receives and is adding undue stress to my life.

Please don’t get me wrong — he has never acted out against Claire and I am certain that he won’t. Instead, he acts out toward me, his mommy and his favorite person in the world.

Whenever I am sitting anywhere with Claire, he will try to squeeze himself between us. When I am doing something with Claire that requires most of my attention, such as feeding her, he will scratch at my legs and endlessly bark.

He has even become destructive of our property, which he has never done before.

I try my best to discipline him with a stern “No!” whenever he does these things. And when Claire is napping, I head over to him, ready to shower him with attention…

But at these times, he will plain-out ignore me, perched on the couch and staring longingly out the window with desolate sighs.

A shot of Comang during one of his melancholy moods

It really isn’t that bad. I know that many dogs choose a more terrible path when babies are introduced to the picture, and I am thankful that Comang hasn’t been horrible (yet?). But I feel really bad for the little guy, knowing that he once had a more enjoyable life.

At times like these, I can’t help but wonder if he would have a better life with another family.

J has brought up the idea of getting another dog to keep Comang company so that he is not so lonely. I am not sure this is the best course of action, especially with BebeDeux on the way.

And speaking of BebeDeux, I now fear how Comang will react to yet another baby in the household, one for whom he will undoubtedly have to sacrifice more of my attention.

I am also scared that Claire might react similarly to how Comang has when the second baby arrives.

Do any of my pet-knowledgeable readers have any advice?