My rant re: Lego

Today is a rant that has nothing to do about Nikko, unfortunately. Our day was a home day, but I managed to get the boys outside while Audrey napped. Nikko sat down in the middle of the driveway, looking down toward the street, and then would run back and forth while verbalizing. No exploring today, and just a little bit of sidewalk chalk for him.

I've been upset the past two days because I don't have any control over the situation regarding Lego, our dog. He is coming back to us on Saturday. The lady who was caring for him since January (Denis' coworker's mom) moved into an assisted living for physical rehab and can no longer care for Lego. The Creens are generous enough to be taking care of him in the interim, but Gail and I both know it's not a forever thing by any means. I should be grateful that we have been dog-free for 7 months, but my stomach is turning when I think about what lies ahead. Lego is currently on medication for his incontinence, so that's probably a good thing - less leakage. But that doesn't mean NO leakage. Audrey is an avid crawler right now, going everywhere and putting everything in her mouth. I shudder when I picture her crawling on our kitchen floor with Lego around, but that's exactly what it's going to be from now on. She's going to have dried (or worse, wet) dog pee or spit on her hands, and those hands will go right into her mouth. The food from the kids' high chairs will be scattered on the floor and Lego will eagerly swoop in to lick it up. Not quite a "clean" floor by my standards, just a dog-spit-smeared one that the kids will have on the bottoms of their feet which will walk all over the living room. Great.

It may be hard to believe, but I am not a dog hater. I AM NOT A DOG HATER. I just don't like owning a dog, especially when I have babies around. I am also not a germophobe; my house is too dusty and crumby for that. But the thought of the dog pee, spit and whatever else gets dragged in to transfer to the kids makes me so uneasy. If Audrey were already walking, and not putting her hands on the floor, it would be the least thing to make me feel better about the situation. But she's not going to start walking until November, at the rate she's going. My boys aren't old enough to walk the dog by themselves at all. And if I have to take Lego out for a pee break in the middle of the day, I'd have to leave all the kids in the house (unless we were already playing outside) and they'd all be crying and screaming until I got back inside. It's not worth it to me to have them be like that, quite honestly. I could try only taking him out when one or two of the kids are taking a nap, but sometimes they are so unpredictable. Like trying to go to the store; takes me an hour to get the food bag and diaper bag prepped, the kids changed and dressed (remember, there are three of them and none of them are potty trained or know how to fully dress themselves yet), shoes on and final checks before going out the door.

Basically, I am screwed. Everything will fall onto me to be responsible for his care since I'm home with everyone during the day. He's too old and has old dog problems, no one will want to adopt him. Denis reminded me that we had a commitment to him when we adopted him. I [begrudgingly] agreed, but didn't know at the time that we would have three children in three years. I know that I'm just going to have to suck it up and accept our situation, change my attitude and move forward. I'll stock up on baby wipes, wash the floor every night (like I'm not already doing that!!!) and find a way to keep the dog bowls out of reach so the kids don't start dipping their hands into them. I'm stretching really far here to try to accommodate this situation. But if Lego ever, EVER bites any of these kids in the face or disfigures them in any way, whether or not because they provoked him, then he is OUT of this house on that day. I won't tolerate it. It's a safety issue, that's that.

OK, rant over. Tomorrow's the last dog-free day so I'll walk around barefoot and shuffling.