We have a puppy!

I have done a LOT of research this year regarding pets - dogs, cats, various reptiles, fish, etc. We got two rabbits in February, two more guinea pigs in April, two zebra danios in August, and yesterday we got a puppy! I had researched hypoallergenic cats this summer, but had been turned away by the price, especially as I knew it didn't guarantee that Paul wouldn't be allergic. I have a mild allergy to dogs, and Ian has had an allergic reaction to some dogs over the years. I had researched the dogs that are advertised as being hypoallergenic, and I had settled on Bichon Frise. The factors I took into account were size (wanted one that was small enough to be on your lap), doesn't shed much, hypoallergenic, good with kids, sweet temperament, and looked cute (some of the hypoallergenic ones looked rather odd). I found one Bichon Frise not that far away that was up for adoption, but the dog hadn't had much experience with being held and that concerned me. Plus I remembered how fun it was when we got a kitten when I was a child. So I started searching for Bichon Frise puppies. Most of the time they were several hours from our house. Then I found "Milo" who was 15 minutes from our home, just turned ten weeks old on December 10, and the price was 25% less than the typical price. I contacted the seller on Friday and placed a curbside order at PetSmart on Friday night of the things we would need to bring home a puppy.

I woke up around 2:15am on Saturday morning, and I couldn't go back to sleep I was so excited for the kids. This was exactly why I didn't tell the kids on Friday.  While I was lying in bed awake at 3am, I had the idea of telling the kids through a hangman puzzle. The boys were up promptly at 7am because it was Ian's birthday. I usually let her sleep in on Saturday morning, but I went up in her room at 7:00 and asked her to come down. I had put the blanks on our whiteboard to spell out Bichon Frise puppy. The kids took turns guessing letters, and they were very confused when the board read "Bichon Frise _u_ _ _". They were very confused what the first two words meant. Fries? Bike? Then finally they guessed the letter "p," and I knew they'd figure it out even though they hadn't guessed "y" yet. Nadia SCREAMED. I wish I had asked Paul to video their reactions. It was a very special way to start Ian's 11th birthday! We ate our traditional birthday donuts that Paul had got at Dunkin' on his way home from work on Friday night, and then Ian opened his gifts. Grandpa and Gubba gave him a drone and some money. I had bought him a 300 piece Pokémon puzzle, a Pokémon drawing book, a card game, Nintendo Switch remote charger, and four Switch games. Around 10am I heard back from the seller that we could come between 11-12. We quickly put all the puzzles away that Nadia had done over the past 4 weeks (10,306 pieces!!!!) and got ready to head to the pet store and then to get the PUPPY! He's the first pet we've had that we know his birthdate - September 30, 2020. 

I've never had a dog before; this is my first experience with potty training a puppy. He cried when he was in his crate while we ate lunch but thankfully he was content in it while we ate dinner. He loves playing fetch and running outside with the kids. The kids spent a LOT of time outside with him on Saturday even though it was cold outside, which meant he wasn't having any accidents inside. He took one nap in Nadia's arms on Saturday afternoon. The seller (an Amish woman) had named him Milo. For a couple of hours on Saturday morning we discussed a wide variety of names. The kids were aghast at some of the names Paul suggested. It reminded me of the struggles we had to agree on names when I was pregnant. Three of the kids' suggestions that were given serious consideration included Luke (Skywalker), George (Washington), and Snowball. Paul wasn't crazy about Snowball, but that gave him the idea to suggest Comet since a comet is a combination of rock and ice. Nadia was upstairs in her bedroom when we were discussing the merits of the name Comet, and I assured the boys that Nadia would like that name because I remembered that was the name of the dog in the show Full House, and that's one of Nadia's three favorite shows. Welcome to our family, Comet! We hope he has many happy, healthy years in our home, and we hope it isn't too hard to train him. This Christmas is going to be very different than our usual Christmas due to COVID-19. I think having a new puppy will help make this month special even if we are in the midst of a pandemic.