WHAT A BRAVE BOY

Ok, so I have had this 'concern' in the back of my mind that when I go to South Africa with Luke in December that the 5 dogs at my moms house and the 2 LARGE dogs at my dads house were going to be very frightening for Luke who has never before come in contact with a dog. My moms 5 are particularly 'rowdy' and can get overly excited when new people or children arrive.

Last week when we moved into our new house, I discovered that the neighbours have a dog. Her name is Roxy. She is just a medium sized dog, nothing overly scary, so I figured Roxy might be a good start for Luke's introduction to the four legged, furry's. While over there one evening, we let Luke meet Roxy. I stood him on the ground, just holding him up under his arms, and let Roxy come right to his face. She was pretty excited about this little noise maker I had with me, so she eagerly came in investigate.

Now, my automatic assumption was that because Luke had never seen or met a dog before, he would be frightened by her excitement and scream, cry, etc etc etc... NOPE, not my child.. he started to jump up and down on his fat little legs in sheer excitement and joy, and squeal loudly right into Roxy's face, while grabbing at her nose and ears. He loved every minute of his furry encounter.

I wish I could have gotten him on video the first time, but we weren't prepared, obviously expecting the worst first encounter. Melissa, the neighbour however, managed to get a few pictures a couple days later.


Melissa also has a 13 year old daughter, Kayla. She is really sweet, and we are going to slowly be teaching her the 'Luke ways' so that she can become our babysitter. Saturday, while Jake and I were trying to get some wall repair and painting done, we had her over to entertain and watch Luke. He was more unsure of her than of the dog, LOL, but all in all it went really well. Kayla is young, and has much to learn, but I was an au pair/baby sitter for years, and know that it just takes some practice and she will be changing diapers, and be a pro in all departments in no time at all. It will be very handy having a babysitter living just next door. And because she is only 13, we will likely be able to use her as a sitter for many years still, before she goes to college etc.