One big happy family

So if you’ve talked to us about it lately, you’re probably aware that Brian and I had about as much anxiety about integrating Avery into our life with Posh as we had about integrating Avery into our life period. Let’s just say that whatever efforts we’re making doing a good job parenting Avery are pretty much a direct result of our lack of doing so with young Posh. She has come a long way, but she ruled the roost for a while, and we were worried about what would happen when Avery came home.

Well, thanks to Debbie and Vince, not much happened when Avery came home, because Posh wasn’t here. But we had to take her back eventually (probaby as much to her dismay as ours…she gets lots of love from Vince and Debbie and LOVES her playmate/boyfriend Sparky). Well, much to my surprise, Posh has really risen to the occasion. She loves Avery and is surprisingly gentle with her. Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

People told me that dogs have this sense, and they just know to be gentle and even become protective of the baby. I didn’t believe them. Maybe that was true of other dogs, but Posh isn’t exactly the delicate type…more of a bull in a china shop, despite her blonde and furry exterior. I was also concerned that she’d act out when Avery replaced her in some ways. For example, whenever I used to sit in the recliner (which I spent a significant amount of time doing in the weeks leading up to delivery) Posh would be up in my lap sleeping within about 4 seconds. Well now, if I’m in the recliner, I’m usually feeding the little monkey. So I was very surprised when, instead of jumping on Avery’s head or barking at us, Posh just sniffed Avery’s head, then did this:

The moment Posh came through the door (sidebar: Debbie is awesome, she even picked Posh up and dropped her off for us), she knew something was different. She could smell it! Avery was sleeping but that didn’t stop Posh from smelling everything in the house that was different – mostly the nursery. She sniffed around in there for a solid half hour. And this morning, when I let her our of her crate, instead of running to our bed to snuggle with Brian, she immediately went into the nursery to “check” on Avery. Which she also does every time she cries. I thought we’d have problems with her barking at the crib when A cried, but that’s not the case. She does do this little dance on her hind legs to try to see into the crib (a lost cause). She has more success protecting her little sister (big sister or little sister?) when we put her down in the pack’n'play:

Will she be our new babysitter? Ok, that’s a stretch. But so far, we’re very happy with how Posh is adjusting to our growing family.