For the Dogs...

You love your dogs, Aidan. I mean, you REALLY love them. You hug on Preston whenever you get the chance, you open wide for them both to kiss you (gross!) and you light up whenever you see Toby.

It makes sense, though, they've been by your side since the beginning!

But, it's becoming clearer every day that the dogs love you too. I WILL one day capture a picture of you hugging Preston. It's just about the cutest thing ever.

But, until then, here is another cutest-thing ever. I present to you: dog vs. baby, a play in one act.

A: "Oh hey Daddy! We weren't up to anything, right Toby?""I challenge you to a dual! On your marks...""Get set...""Aidan wins. Toby gives up.""Wait a second...something about that seemed a bit too easy..."Surprise open-mouth-kiss-enjoyed-by-all attack move! Kisses for everyone!

Okay, so, yeah, it's a little bit gross...and your Mom asked me not to post that picture. But sometimes love is messy. And we brushed your teeth soon thereafter.

In Toby and Preston we all have life-long friends. Even though they want to eat the roof of your mouth occasionally, the dogs are our family and they are really just fuzzy little bundles of love (and poop...and sometimes vomit.) But, like I said, love is messy. And sometimes love hurts.

We recently had to say goodbye to another great friend. Mimi and Pops' dog, Max, was once my dog: I picked him out from the adoption kennels when I was only 12 years old. He made me feel like Toby and Preston make us all feel now!

Granted, you didn't really get to know old Max in his prime; by the time you were born he was already an old, old dog who smelled pretty badly, was mostly blind and wasn't too playful. But he was true blue too, and every Monday afternoon when you went over to Mimi and Pops' house, Max perked up a little. He was interested in you for sure...sniffing you a little here, checking you out there; but he was already well beyond his playing years. But we loved him still.

And now, he is no longer with us. That's the rough part about puppy love: our little friends aren't designed to be with us forever. That's a pretty heavy lesson for a 7 month old, but I know you'll notice that Max isn't there at Mimi and Pops' next Monday, so I figured it best to level with you now.

The good news is, though, that because they can't be with us forever, we humans have free reign to accept as many puppy kisses, play bows and tail wags as we can get while our friends are still with us. So, more power to you, little man. You keep playing with Toby and Preston, and take as many kisses as you can get... as long as you're relatively sure that Toby hasn't reverted back to his puppy-hood eating habits, which weren't so sanitary.

And since this post is for the dogs, this post is truly for Max...who would totally approve of your dog day afternoons!