Spot & Puddles

On the way home from the sledding hill, we saw a dog exuberantly sniffing around in the snow. I said to the kids, "Did I ever tell you about the time Spot rode on a sled?"

Spot is one of our two pretend dogs - the other is Puddles - both Dalmatians. The pantheon of Spot & Puddles stories got started around Liam's second birthday, with a greeting card that had a picture of two dogs on it. I made up a story about Spot climbing into Liam's crib and getting stuck. Then there was the time Puddles was selected to ride the fire engine in the Independence Day parade, and the time we took them camping and they got lost in the woods. By far the favorite story, the one that could convert Liam from throwing a tantrum to smiling nicely for the photographer, was the time Spot and Puddles ate an entire box of Oat Squares and then hid under the bed.

Timothy was never quite as entranced with Spot & Puddles, preferring to pretend he IS a dog, over hearing stories about them. But Liam, even at almost eight years old, was thrilled to hear a new story tonight. He asked me a bunch of questions - which one is older (Puddles, but we don't know exactly how old Spot is because he had been dropped off anonymously at the Humane Society), why did we name her Puddles (started as a nickname because she wasn't quite potty trained when we got her), why is Spot more husky (because he will eat anything he can get a hold of, especially cereal). I had an answer ready every time, and finally Liam said, "Mom, how do you DO that?"

"They are my imaginary dogs, so I know everything about them. By the way, don't forget to wipe their feet when we get home, so they don't track snow in the house."

"Okay Mom."