First I have to say that A, the person from whom we are adopting the dog, has to be one of the sweetest men I've met in a long time. I could tell he was really conflicted about losing his pet. He kept making little whining noises in the back of his throat. It was adorable. He's pretty happy that Bailey will be living in a house with a yard, though, and I was sure to reassure him that M, who will be Bailey's new caretaker, is a very responsible 6 year old who has been in charge of the basic needs of all of our pets for months now. He feeds and waters everyone in the morning, and is a sweet, loving boy.

So A brought over Bailey's supplies. Some ear treatment, flea treatment, a big doghouse, leash, a book about making your dog laugh, and the cutest little sweater.

Yes. I now live with a dog who has a sweater. A says she also has a suede vest that he can't believe he actually bought for 30 bux. He says he'll send it to me when he unpacks.

Meanwhile, Bailey sniffed around the yard and hung out. And Twyla was totally jealous, but curious - and not appearing to be aggressive.

I felt bad for wanting A to leave, but the kids were kind of driving me crazy outside running around, and I wanted us all to adjust to the new family member. I told A that I would definitely e-mail him and send pictures and keep him updated on Bailey's life as much as he felt he needed, and then he left.

Unfortunately, he also left the gate unlatched, which caused a major heart attack for me when I lost track of the dog and MY 2-YEAR OLD for about 2 minutes, and ran outside to find the gate wide open and a concerned neighbor holding the hand of C, who had wandered out into the road.

Damnit that was fucking scary. Never never never ever again do I ever want to experience that. When I first walked out, I just saw the woman, and I thought she was going to tell me that she had run him over or something. But he was there, and he seemed OK until I picked him up and he could see that I was visibly shaken. Then he started to cry, and it took him a good 15 minutes to calm down, by which time I was also crying to release the stress of having experienced all of that in such a short span of time.

I'm really REALLY hoping he has learned his lesson about wandering out of the gate...but even if he hasn't, it's not typical for the gate to be unlatched, and it's not really typical for him to be out there alone. It just so happened that M and I were distracted - filling Bailey's food dish or something - and no one was out there with him...

At any rate, he was OK, and the dog was OK, and we finally all came back into the house to settle down.

A had warned us that Bailey would probably whine when he left, and she did. M was so cute - relating in the matter of having lost a family member and feeling sad about it - he was comforting Bailey by saying almost the exact same things I have told him when he has expressed sadness about the fact that his papa doesn't live here any more. C offered the dog his sippy cup, as well as a good deal of empathy. And it didn't take long for the dog to realize that the children wouldn't leave her alone as long as she was expressing sadness, so she stopped whining and flopped in a forlorn heap on the floor.

And we all kind of went about our day with a little more fullness now that there was a new family member to acquaint ourselves with. I still don't have any pictures, but she's very very cute.

At around 6, we got all dressed up and took the dog for a walk to the grocery store to pick up something easy to eat for dinner, and some juice for the kids. M was in charge of the leash, and he was so cute. Not wanting to pull the dog too hard, he was running to keep up with her and maintain slack in the leash.

It helps to pay attention...to really NOTICE these things that make the children so precious. Like the way C is always standing on his head and the way M seems to have a sense for animals and their space...because these are the things that explain the other things that maybe aren't so pleasant about the children. Like the way C NEEDS to be cuddled 24 hours a day (thus standing on his head in my lap, kicking my ribs with his pointed toes) and the way M sometimes forgets to think about the space that *I* might need. I made a point later in the evening of complimenting M on his kindness and empathy towards the dog, and the way he seemed to intuitively know not to poke or hover or overly interact with her on her first night here. I assured him that if he was patient she would probably become very bonded with him. It seemed to puff him up a bit with confidence, and I was glad of that, as I had been entirely unpleasant towards both of them this morning. Blustering about thinking only of my feelings and my state of mind - not considering that they are going through difficult times right along with me.

Anyway, Bailey did well on the leash, and we all seemed to really settle into the evening. At one point, Bailey got a bit close to Twyla's food dish, and Twyla laid into her, but in spite of how awful it sounded, neither dog was injured in the slightest. I figure they are going to have to duke it out once or twice to establish who is in charge. Thankfully, Bailey does not seem interested in asserting dominance over Twyla, so I think she'll steer clear of her food dish from now on.

After that scuffle, I asked M if he would like to hang out with Bailey in his room, and he did. For the rest of the evening, he played in there with Bailey. I puttered around, cleaning up, periodically checking on them, and finally put c to bed. When i was finished with that and went to M's room to read him his story, the light was out and M was curled on the edge of the bed while Bailey luxuriated in the middle. M had put his blanket on her and had given her one of his stuffed animals for company. It was so damn adorable I almost cried.

So, yeah. I'm pleased. I'm very glad that this particular dog has come into our lives. She seems entirely safe and mellow and well-behaved. M loves her to death, as does C. Twyla will get over herself. (and M tried to appease Twyla by telling her that "Next time we go for a walk, we'll take you instead, Twyla." Even though he knows the dog can't hear.) Everything is groovy. There is peace in the valley tonight.