Beloved, Best-Behaved Child

Gentle, responsible, always ready for a walk or a swim in the dam, Wolfie is, by far, my best behaved child. (We'll leave the lizard out of this equation - it's a different relationship with a reptile!) Wolfie's never met a dog he didn't like (although he's finally realised not all dogs will like him) and has only growled at a human once - when a stranger picked up my youngest girl. The stranger only meant to move my girl further from the streams edge - but he wasn't having it. 

While in human years Wolfie isn't old (he's grown up with my youngest girls, seeing them as his prime duty,) he's already middle aged. Like me, his joints are a bit achey, he's put on a bit of weight, he's not a fan of hot weather, and he lumbers a little, but he still swims into sea, dam and river after the kids and loves it when his pack is all together. 

My Wild-Boy has recently become dog obsessed and has realised what a treasure we have in Wolfie. My Wild-Boy is walking Wolfie every day and it is such a ray of hope seeing my Wild-boy outside again, where he should be, after too long inside. 

There isn't a day goes by that I'm not grateful for his sweet nature and loving ways. Happiness is a joyful dog!  

 

Woo-Woo turns Two

 "Mama, Woo-woo? Dada?"

She whispers plaintively, as she has every night we've been away. Mummy, where are Wolfie and Daddy, I miss them. Although her vocabulary is fast expanding, her sentences still have a way to come.

Tucked into my side as we sing the last songs before sleep, she always says the same thing. Woo-woo, Dada.

And I realise that it's true, Wolfie is Giggle-Bear's best friend, the one who's always with her, the one, apart from me she sees the most when the big kids are at school. He's been with her for her first step, her first memories. They play together and squabble over toys. He's gentle with her, rough with our rough boy. They've sat and waited in the front window together for the big kids to come home, watched the big kids playing in the street. When she plays in her sandbox he's beside her, when she naps he sits guard or lies beside her. He's there to lick the ice-cream off her face and steal away the high-status toy.

Wolfie turned two yesterday - celebrated with diced beef, some bones, a big walk and a lion toy Giggle-Bear stole for her own - the stealing goes both ways. And I looked over some old photos and reflected on how lucky we've been. At two Wolfie is mellow and calm and steadily affectionate, and Giggle-Bear's best friend. While in his wild-puppyhood he'd almost pull us over on walks, he now plods amiable - and only pulls a little bit when he spots a random cat. We really lucked out.

While Wolfie was slow to bond - no 'I-Love-Everybody-Labrador' he's loyal and gentle now. A toddler can, and has, picked up his bone without danger, he loves to come swimming with us in the sea and he's never met another dog he hasn't been desperate to be friends with. Having had some less friendly dogs this is a massive relief.

So in celebration of our gorgeous Wolfiekins and in hopes of many more years... girl and dog, growing up together...

 First Meetings

 I've got this. Keeping guard.

So Woo-Woo, this is how you do it.

 Sleep

Morning Moments (books & babe)

She grows so quickly, my little one.
My smallest one, who only a blink ago I carried everywhere, is now toddling around the house with great determination, causing mischief and unravelling order.
Capture a moment - early morning, as she pulls some books off the shelf and carts them around, followed by her faithful hound, who stops every so often to lick her snotty nose.
There is a reason my books are not beautifully catalogued - by colour, sorry Dewey - and that reason's name is Giggle-Bear.

Between the Woods and Sea (Walk with a White Wolf)

As a child one of my favourite fairytales was called The White Wolf  (I think it was in either the Red or Orange Fairy Book by Lang), and now, with our own white wolf I love how romantic he looks. (I try to forget the way he drinks from the toilet bowl and steals any cheese or butter I'm foolish enough to leave on the bench-top.)

With the older kids at school and kindy, my Beloved and I took the two little ones on a favourite walk along the mangroves by the shore. Wolfie loved the freedom to run along the dog beach - he found a friendly Border Collie to play with - and Giggle-bear loved playing with the sticks and seeds she found.

I loved the liminality of it, the way it seemed like a place apart from everywhere else. It seemed so wild and so close to something magic. Walking it with my toddler who sees the world with new eyes and believes everything is interesting, and with Wolfie, who sniffs a world of scent and takes such delight in stretching his legs, made it seem like stepping within a fairytale.

Sometimes you just want to curl up on the couch with a book...