Milk & Milkbones

Raising a baby reminds me of the early years with my childhood dog. Sugar, a bichon frise http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/bichonfrise.htm, was a little bitch (ha, get it?) who lived to be 16 years old. I vividly remember the car ride from the breeder's house after we bought her. She, 8 weeks, and I, 8 years, were both terrified and cried the whole way home. It sounds exactly like the ride from the hospital on October 31. Petrified, exhausted, and hormonally imbalanced, I sobbed from the moment I left the maternity ward to the moment I arrived at my front door.

Is it just me, or are babies and puppies pretty similar? It's not just a taste for milk and milkbones that babies and puppies share. Babies and puppies...

2. Are pretty freakin' cute.

3. Like to play with chew toys that squeak

4. Cry at night when they need food/potty/attention

5. Have ridiculously soft skin/fur

6. Need constant grooming

7. Like to take naps on your lap

8. Eat a lot

9. Poop & pee a lot

10. Want to play when we want them to sit still in our lap so we can pet them

11. Have blond hair and blue eyes (Sugar and AJ specifically)

12. Learn tricks like how to roll over

13. Are very expensive

14. Go for walks daily

15. Get potty trained

16. Sleep in a box

17. Get spoken to in an annoying high-pitched voice (i'm guilty!)

18. Are pet by strangers

19. Receive nicknames (We called Sugar "Booger" - and, my bro and I also renamed her Buffy to be funny (middle school humor) and she answered to both Sugar and Buffy til the day she died

20. Have owners/parents who think they are the cutest, smartest, most advanced of their species!