Yesterday was a busy day for me, full of love and surprises. My granbaby Lily, a beautiful English bulldog, was left in my care overnight, while my daughter and her husband attended a sports event. She arrived all wags and smiles, however, it was reported that when they put her Syracuse doggy tee-shirt on her prior to her visit with me, she would not budge out the door. Perhaps she worried that my cantankerous pet bunny, Otis would make fun or her. Needless to say, upon Lily's arrival, Otis got cranky, and as Lily came over to greet her cousin, she was met with two ninja kicks towards her face with Otis's front paws. When I reprimanded Otis for his bad behavior, he hopped into his meatloaf dish and sulked for a good while. Lily was smart enough to get the message and, although she seemed a bit forlorn, she avoided all contact, including eye contact with Otis. I left the gate to the kitchen down for the day so Lily could wander the house, and by the afternoon, Otis got bored of just sitting there. He hopped off his glass throne and hopped around the kitchen. Then, to show his fierceness, he tipped the hay and litter from his litter box. Little by little Otis and Lily made peace with one another and ceased avoiding eye contact. At one point, while Lily ate her dinner, Otis hopped right up to Lily's ear and gave a little sniff... no more ninja moves. I was a little nervous, as dogs do not like to be interrupted at meal time... Otis's timing was not very good, but Lily continued her grunted chowing, and so I rewarded Otis with a snacky snack for being so brave. By evening, Otis realized that the gate was down and went exploring parts of the house that were new to him. He hopped around the dining room table and at that point seemed more intent on escaping from me than escaping from his cousin, who watched in amusement. Lily was well behaved and affectionate, but every so often she would run to the door as if to check if her parents were arriving. By nighttime she looked a little homesick, and had trouble settling down in our bed for the night. Jumping on and off the bed, making big sighs and snorts, and generally mooching around, she kept us up well beyond our usual bedtime. When she finally found her place between our feet, she slept through the night, snoring loudly like all bulldogs do. This morning, I tried to do Pilates, but Lily would not let me. Every time I laid down to perform my routine, I was pounced on, and licked all over my face, until my sides hurt from laughing. I tried dancing to Madonna, but Lily kept barking as I swirled and snapped my fingers. She wanted my full attention, just like the two year old she is. When my daughter Tara finally picked her up at noon, she was besides herself with tail wagging joy. Although it was fun at Granma's, she was homesick for her siblings Milo and Mimi (cats) and her parents. It is a lot of work babysitting Lily... more so than taking care of Otis, making me feel glad that I am only Granma to her.
