Ahhh, so the reality is that I have two kids.  One kid has two legs, is taller than me, speaks English and is sliding deep into the drama that is teen years.  The other kid has four legs, weighs about 7lbs, is just under 6 months old and is deep into the throws of puppydom.

And these two…oh these two!

Yappy is a puppy; he does puppy stuff.  In the last week he has chewed through 3 cords (electrical tape is sooooo important in Casa d’ABM), shredded a new roll of toilet paper and created a full on lair under my bed. He is maniacal in his endless puppy enthusiasm.  I relish in coming home to Yappy because when I walk through the door, he acts like I hung the sun and the moon, and I am the best thing that has happened to him…ever! And his cuddles.  Sigh! I loves me some Yappy.

I loves me some Hope too, of course.  Hope has recently decided that she is not checking for Yappy though.  He’s cute (adorbs!) when he wants to play, but when he chews on things she has left out…well, he is enemy number one.

Today she managed to spill a bunch of Mike and Ikes on the floor.  Yappy thought God sent manna from doggy-heaven and ran to gobble what he could before being scolded.

I found some…um…some of Hope’s unmentionables in Yappy’s lair recently, a reminder that Hope needs to  deep clean and scrub tidy her room.

Yappy destroyed all the aces in Hope’s new deck of cards that she left on the living room floor.  Not sure how he did that but he was proud of himself (frankly so was I); Hope was furious!

And to top it off, he loves me more.  Heck I feed him, train him, snuggle with him and take him for long walks.  Yappy runs to me for EVERYTHING. And I love it.  It’s unfortunate that Hope’s impatience means that Yappy’s attachment to me exclusively will only grow over time, but selfishly, I’m about that puppy adoration life.  Hope and I can get rather frosty sometimes.  Yappy never gives me the cold shoulder.

Elihu says I’m more patient with Yappy than I am with Hope.  Honestly, he’s probably right.  I totally understand what puppies do and why they do it. I don’t understand this teen thing at all.  Not one bit. Totally foreign and infuriating sometimes.

I’m hoping that in time Hope will come around to understanding that this is life with a puppy.  Puppy proofing is necessary, as is good consistent correction.  That good, consistent love and correction is good for both my fur baby and my teen, equally.

But for now, the daily sibling squabbles continue–only Yappy doesn’t realize that he and Hope are squabbling.