Guess what I have on my lap? Nope, not a baby but a little furball named Jaq! This scruffy little white, dashund type dog showed up at Mom's the other day, he was filthy and starving, poor thing. He's a little old man with a bum knee but he is super sweet and just needs some love. We had planned on getting a puppy but well things just happen don't they? He is fabulous with the kids! Just sits and lets them love on him, when Evie watches t.v he sits in the crook of her arm, he's been brushed with sponges and a paint brushe, worn a crown, had a dishtowel cape and even gone for a ride in the doll buggy! Mom had originally named him Max but Evie had other ideas, all you Disney fans should remember Jaq-Jaq, the little mouse from Cinderella, I'm guess ing this is where it came from. Evie told us "no Max, Jaq" and to be honest he is a little rodenty looking, but in a cute way, I guess it's his long little nose, who knows what goes on in that pretty little head of hers.
Oh and I just wanted to add that I feel slightly guilty for bashing Dora the other day, she is one the only female lead cartoon characters so I do have to give her that. I think my anti-Doraism just comes from watching this child with a severe speech delay say "arriba" and count in spanish when I can't get her to do those things in English. Maybe if they would clearly state that it's spanish and not just say "we need to go fast, say arriba" I wouldn't feel so irritated. I'm sure for kids that don't have a speech problem, Dora is a wonderful learning tool. There, now I feel better and less guilty although why I should feel guilty about hurting a cartoon character is beyond me. I guess she can't help it if her head is so big, can she? And yes for the record I tried just banishing her from the house, but if you've opposed the will of a 3 year old or had those big brown eyes turn on you and won well then you're a better parent than I am. I'm picking my battles and in the very long scheme of things, I'm hoping this will all work out. We just found out insurance won't cover her speech therapy, if she'd had an accident and needed to relearn language skills they would cover it, but they don't just cover learning lnguage. Go figure. In NC she would have been in a program through the school system but here they're telling us she doesn't get that until she's actually in school. Now keep in mind there is an early intervention program until the age of 3, so do they just abandon the kids until school? Seems fishy to me so I've got some more calling to do.