My four-legged daughter

Ruby has been in a bit of a funk lately. We understand why. Four months ago she was an only child, and now she’s second in line to the cutest baby in the world. And even though Taylor isn’t breaking her toys or reading her diary, Ruby seems to be annoyed that we didn’t consult with her first in making her a big sister. She gets this from me. Apparently when Libba was born, I was so mad at my mom that I wouldn’t even go into the hospital room. I was pretty unhappy about being knocked off the pedestal. Chris, on the other hand, was supposedly this perfect angel of a big brother right off the bat when Ryan was born. Perfect, perfect, perfect. Puke, puke, puke.

The reason I think the Rubes is a bit down is because she’s taken up to hiding underneath the bed all day. And not even our bed, it has to be one of the guest beds in the basement. As if even being on the same floor as us in unbearable to her. She wakes up, eats, does her business and then straight down to the basement to hide under the bed all day. I try to lure her out with treaters and tennis balls, but she won’t budge. I’ve even tried crawling underneath the friggin bed to get her, but she’ll just scoot away from me. Sometimes she’ll sneak out long enough to grab something out of the garbage and then destroy it under the bed, knowing that the only thing that annoys me more than her being under the bed is having shredded toilet paper rolls under there with her.

When I was telling Libba about my predicament, she suggested that maybe Ruby just needed some time to herself and a place to get away from the chaos. I can see that. Up until four months ago, she had free reign of the house while we were at work. And now I‘m home all day with a new little person who cries and smells funny. Maybe she’s sick of us. Maybe the bottom of the bed smells like Italian sausage. Either way, she hides from me all day.

I know what she needs. She needs more attention. But some days I am so consumed with the new challenges of mommy-hood I don’t get a chance to brush my teeth until noon, so it’s hard to take the time to army-crawl under the bed and have a heart-to-heart with my dog. But I need to. Because I miss her too. So this is my pledge to her and to everyone, that I will start giving more love to my four-legged daughter. And much to the dismay of my dentist, I will put Ruby-time ahead of brushing my teeth. It’s not like she’s going to complain about my breath.