Sharing is Caring: from Jenny at Geek in Heels

I’m so happy to have Jenny from Geek in Heels guest posting for me today! Her blog is a wonderful mix of insight into her life, as well as wonderful/thought-provoking/funny things found around the net. She’s also a commenting force to be reckoned with–I’m always blown away by her ability to leave thoughtful and kind comments on so many of the blogs I follow. I definitely aspire to be as kind of an internet friend as she is!

Hi readers! My name is Jenny — the old Mrs. Peony on Weddingbee — and I blog over at Geek in Heels. I’m so excited to be contributing a guest post for Mandy while she is on her trip! I hope you will indulge me as I write about my 11-month-old daughter Claire and her recent interactions with Comang, our shih-tzu.

For the first few months of Claire’s life, our daughter and our dog mostly ignored each other. As Claire became more aware of her surroundings, she began to take an interest in him…but he wanted nothing to do with her as she had been the strange mini-human that had been monopolizing mommy and daddy’s attention.

All that changed when Claire began solids, and — as most babies do — started dropping her food on the floor.

Now, Comang has never really taken an interest in human food before Claire came along. You could even place a big plate of ribs directly in front of him and all he would do is sniff at it! (You can see the proof here.)

We’re not exactly sure why Comang began to eat the baby’s food. Perhaps it’s because she was about the same size as him? Or maybe it’s due to the fact that a good portion of it ends up on the floor, where we often throw him his treats?

Whatever the reason, it soon became commonplace for him to follow Claire as she buzzed around in her walker, dropping puffs, Cheerios, and Mum-Mums in her path, or to find him 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. )

Just last month, 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.

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

To my amazement, Claire picked up a puff and handed it over to him!

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 an expression that clearly stated, “What the heck is that? I don’t want that crap!”) or at Claire’s obvious confusion at his refusal of the pacifier.

I wish that I could have captured this moment on video. But as I wasn’t quick enough, here’s one of Claire sharing her Cheerios with Comang. Enjoy!