Ruby and The Wheelchair Dog

Wow.

I'm tired.

How do you do it?

We picked up baby Ruby at just a little after 8 o'clock yesterday morning. We are on a road trip which has us arriving this morning to meet her father and then, all of us, onwards to her mother in Ottawa. That means we have care of her, on our own, for just over a full day. By the time we went to bed last night we were exhausted. Bone tired. Try as we might, we couldn't find an 'off switch' or even a 'dimmer switch' to turn down all that child-powered energy.

I pride myself on being some who, when awake, is awake. I feel that I am alert to my world, the dangers in it, the joys awaiting - but man, the level of alertness that is required in the care of a child is astonishing. Absolutley astonishing. And I understand that some people have more than one - the idea boggles the mind. I should add to all this that Ruby has a pleasant temperment, she never cried (not once), she never whined (not once), never tantrumed (not once) - and STILL we were tired.

At one point we were watching television. OMG kids programming, at least for kids under 2, is bonechillingly dull. But Ruby watched in fascination as the plot crawled like blood flows in winter. One program we watched (I searched and searched for the name of this program but could not find it, I'm sure some of you are aware of it) starred a bunch of actors dressed up as dogs who sing in a band, hang out in a clubhouse and cavort with each other. One of the dogs is in a wheelchair. I was surprised to see him there and watched to see if he was a burden or a participant - he was very much a participant in the episode we saw.

Ruby pointed to the dog and then looked over at me sitting in my wheelchair. She watched in great fascination, her eyes glancing over at me and my chair and then back at the dog in the chair. Finally she pointed at the screen and said, "Like Dave" and then laughed. Apparently this is quite funny.

Later she said, when she was drawing a picture and talking to herself, "Doggie like Dave."

I'm not sure if the dog in the chair was less odd because he was like me, or if I was less odd because there was a dog in a chair on television. Either way, it's a good thing, a really good thing.

Note To Readers: My computer laptop is dead, I'm on the road through til next Wednesday, some hotels I'm staying in have business centers with computers others may not. My posting will be sporatic until I get home and get the problems with the laptop sorted out. Apologies in advance.