Lena and her big sis (sort of)

So in recent weeks, Lena has decided that her best friend in the whole world is the 15-lb Boston Terrier that smells like a piece of moldy bread. (Sidenote: Memphis has some allergies that cause her to lose all her chest hair, sweat, and get topical yeast infections. fun fun fun.) At any rate, Lena’s interactions with Memphis up to this point have been of the reach/grab/lick variety, so imagine Kim’s and my surprise when she is just tickled pink by her ability to feed the dog. And of course, Memphis is not about to turn down free food, especially when it tastes better than the sweet potato/salmon crap that she gets on a daily basis.

When this first started happening, Lena (while sitting on her high chair) took a piece of food and extend her hand out and to the right… all the while, studying our reaction. “She’s just stretching her arm” was my first response. “She’s just not sure she’s hungry anymore” was Kim’s. And then Lena’s hand would come back with the food still in her grasp, and she’d pretend to nosh on it for a while longer. 15 seconds later, the arm goes out again. “Don’t you dare,” I said, as I tried my first bit of stern dad talk. At this point, I swear that she furrowed her brow. My normal vocabulary choice that is associated with a brow furrow is not exactly what you would consider rated G, so I’m hoping that’s not what ran through her mind. At any rate, the food came back in range of Lena’s mouth. Another 15 seconds went by and her arm snuck out there again. … … Now, for better or for worse, the first on-command reaction that Lena learned was something called “Stinky Face.” (To do stinky face, scrunch your face together and take deep loud inhales and exhales through your mouth) And the parent in me can’t help but think it’s fricking adorable… but every now and then, “stinky face” will surface in other situations… situations that make me worry about the terrible 2s or 3s or whatever… This was one of those times. So the arm goes out, “stinky face” ensues, and the hand opens… And Memphis was about a second faster than me in getting to it. So yes, this will be an on-going battle of “don’t feed the dog,” but tonight, we gave in and decided to take a quick video of exactly how entertained she and, in the course of watching it, we were by the apparent bond that the baby and the dog now have. Enjoy, and make sure to turn the volume up.