See This Face

Hyde's First Visit to the Vet

Scene 1: Hyde doing the hoppity, skippity, jump jump jump, turn, head bang, swirl, etc. on the table.

Mummy (Me): Hyde!!! Stand still!!! He's just trying to clip your nails!
Dr. Vet: (with tone of grave wisdom) Aaaah...he's spoilt rotten and knows he can get away with anything.
Daddy (R) points finger at the culprit (Mum), Dr. Vet laughs
Mum: (Sad eyes, forlorn voice) It is SO difficult to discipline a puppy!
Dr. Vet: (using exasperated tone) NO! It is difficult to discipline OURSELVES!
Dad laughs, he will get it when we get home...grrr...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Our baby had a urinary infection for the past two days - which we knew with the help of Google. Welcome to parenting in the 21st century. We rushed him to the vet only today, because she told us it's not a big deal. Yeah right! It was a mission to get the medicine she prescribed into his mouth via those syringe tubes. If you read half the doggy literature on Google, you too would be convinced he had kidney failure and was going blind. Some times I get up at night just to see that he is okay, and that he isn't suffocating on a plastic bag I was careless enough to leave behind, or chewing on the gas cylinder tube and going unconscious because he inhaled the gas. I have come to accept this madness as a part of who I am.

Thing is, our little man is a good boy most of the time. He doesn't cause us too much trouble. The trouble actually lies with me, when I ASSUME he understands the long conversations I have with him. As soon as he wakes from his naps he comes running to me, his ears flopping up n down. He usually nips my hand, or jumps n licks. Once when I was having a really emotional day, bawling my eyes out, he just sat there n looked at me, then lay down and put his head on my feet as if to say, "I'm here for you." Pretty astute for someone so little. Our vet tells us he is actually two weeks younger than what we were told (29 days) - which makes me want to kill the guy we bought him from. No wonder he looked so scared and lost - he was missing his mum, and her milk. Apparently, dogs with his white colouring (coat) are more prone to infections - what more does a ultra-paranoid mother need to hear? I have a difficult enough time as it is getting him to poop in one place. Our vet is an awesome lady - I felt so comfortable with her and with the place. We saw so many people there with their gorgeous dogs, their love displayed for the world to see. Some were open and friendly, some were protective of their dogs, some bemused and some downright worried. When I looked them in the eye, I sensed an understanding - as though they were saying, "Welcome to this wonderful world, now that you're here you can never go back".

With this experience I see my husband in a whole new light - as a parent. He is SO patient. Our deal was that we would wake up at 6am, take Hyde for a walk, etc. but only hubby does so religiously while I snore away. When he is strict, he is REALLY strict, but he also overlooks the little one's mischief more than I do. I just lose it, give Hyde a tight smack on the bottom, see him crawl away from me under the table with his sad puppy eyes, and then I feel SO bad and go after him - "Awwww...m SORRY my DAAAARLING, my baaaaybeee, m so SORREEEEE..." (For further cootchie-cooing see picture above and THEN judge me)

I always saw myself as a great disciplinarian - that my household would be a dictatorship, but hubby says our kids will take me for a long ride, and then leave me there! Sometimes I am in awe at how little I know myself. My college NCC days was probably what put the notion in my head that I would command and the little ones would obey. But this guy just looks at me like I'm a raving lunatic, gives me a nonchalant shrug and walks away.

I always wanted a dog ever since I was little, but I also imagined having a small house with a huge garden and the open outdoors - an idyllic Enid Blyton farmhouse setting. I was very apprehensive about keeping one in an apartment, not so much for MY sake but for the sake of the dog. I grew up watching Born Free so keeping a free-spirited animal such as a dog, whose soul joy (pun intended) is in running, jumping and knocking things over, in a closed up apartment seemed like the greatest cruelty ever. But hubby has raised two dogs of his own and convinced me that the difficulty would be more for us than for him, and so long as we stick to a strict regimen we would all be just fine. Now that he's here, and about 70% of my day goes in mopping my floors - I cannot imagine our life without him.

Our son, our first born - he rocks our world.

P.S.: I strongly recommend watching Born Free if you have not already watched it.

P.P.S.: Dear Nancy and Neetu - I tried doing the "25 Random Things About Me" tag - really I did. Believe me, believe me PLEASE! But after reaching No. 12, I have enough matter for a mega serial (4 pages) and I really don't want to put my readers through all that drama. I am not able to keep it short either because one of my random quirks is that I NEED to explain WHY I am the way I am. However, I will publish a book one day and if you will waste your money buying it, you can gave fun trying to decipher how much of it is fact and how much fiction. Me not gonna continue that post for now...