Bailey had her first t-ball game Saturday morning, and she did great! She had her own little cheering section up there -- both sets of grandparents, her great-grandmother, and her uncle and aunt all came to watch her play. There was a last-minute time change that we didn't know about {I knew I should have checked my email that morning!} so we missed the first couple of innings. But Bailey just ran on over and made herself at home with her team.
That hat! The pink glove! I can't take it!
It was super windy up on the field...and pretty cold. At one point, after Bailey had hit the ball and was running to first, her helmet blew clear off her head. She totally abandoned the idea of running to the bases, turned around and picked up her helmet--and then ran with both hands holding it on her head the rest of the game.
After the game. both teams met on home plate and high-fived each other, then it was time for a post-game snack {Rice Krispy treats and a juice box} that the coach brought out. And, of course, the morning wouldn't have been complete without a lunch time trip to Bailey's favorite place -- Chick-Fil-A.
See those baby blues of hers? Remember them because they'll come into play a little later.
After lunch and some play time, we headed home. There's a Petco that we pass on our way home and, as we were driving by, I noticed a pet adoption van in the parking lot and pointed it out to Scott. Bailey has been asking for a dog for months now and we've been putting it off. We had a dog before she was born that turned into a peeing, snapping, territorial mess after baby arrived, and we didn't want a repeat this time around. But we've kind of been tossing the idea around for the last few weeks, and were {sort of} planning on {maybe} getting her a dog for her birthday in June.
So...we drive by Petco and pass the adoption van. And, as we're getting off our exit Scott tells me to turn around and drive back so he can run in and check it out. The plan was for me to drop him off and then head to Starbucks with the kids and pick him up a few minutes later. But as soon as Bailey realized where we were she freaked out and begged to go inside. So the four of us walk in and Bailey immediately makes a beeline for the dogs. She asks to pet them, and she's in heaven. Heaven.
She's petting a black lab named Blair, and then she moves on to Patty Cake, and then to Casey. Back to Blair. She was loving it. She never asked for one of them, but was just content to sit with them all and play. While she's playing with the dogs, Scott and I are asking the fosters and employees questions about all of them and trying to have a discreet conversation about it.
Should we get one?
I don't know...should we?
Look how happy she is.
I like Patty Cake.
Me, too. And they say she's good with kids.
Oh, look. Blair is sniffing Bailey's hair.
Awww...look at that little one chewing on the gate. He's so cute!
Do we want to do this? Should we wait? Let's wait.
After about 40 minutes we told Bailey it was time to go home. To her credit, she didn't make a peep. Just said goodbye to all of the dogs and we were on our way. On the five-minute drive home Scott and I debated the merits of an adopted dog versus taking a drive over to the SPCA. Before we had even gotten home, Scott told me to turn around and go back to Petco. The plan was to check out Patty Cake one more time...but when we walked back inside the store she was already in the process of being adopted by another family.
We let Bailey walk around a bit and play with the rest of the dogs. They were all jumping around, playing and sniffing at her. And then she said, "Mommy! Look at that one!" and if she hadn't pointed her out to me I never would have noticed this poor dog. She was huddled in the corner, curled up in a ball, and just looking around at everything. Bailey ran over to pet her and the dog just sat there and let her. Didn't lick her or jump at her...just stayed curled up in a little ball. One of the adoption employees told us that this particular dog seemed stressed and afraid due to the long drive up {all of these dogs were rescued from a high kill shelter in Alabama} but that she was a total sweetheart. One woman had a dog of the same breed and said she was wonderful with families and children. I knelt down to pet her and she looked up at me with soft black eyes and then laid her head down on her paws...and my heart melted. Bailey sat down with her and continued to pet her while Scott and I peppered the employees and her foster with question after question about her breed, house training, size, etc. Bailey batted those baby blues at Scott and two hours later, she was ours.
This is Ryder, a 9-month-old Great Pyranese/Antolian Shepherd Lab mix. She's timid and sweet and fearful of just about everything. She set up camp in a corner of our kitchen as soon as we got her home, and she's content to stay there until we bring her outside to go to the bathroom. She let Bailey snuggle up next to her and pet her, and she was cool with Gerry clomping around and falling on top of her a few times. She only barks at night when she needs to go outside and, even then, it's a quick little howl and then she waits for someone to come downstairs. We're all being very gentle and trying to slowly bring her out of her shell but so far she's still quiet and scared as can be. Bailey absolutely ADORES her.
We had Sunday dinner at our house yesterday, so she got to meet some of the rest of the family. She slowly, slowly started to be a little less fearful of everyone as the afternoon wore on. We even managed to get her outside, where she plopped down under a table and let everyone pet her.
Bailey and Gerry ran around out there like two little lunatics and Ryder never made a peep. G, in particular, had a blast outside. Last summer he wasn't walking yet and it's been either cold, snowy or rainy here for so long that this was, quite literally, the first time that we've been out in the backyard for more than a minute or two since he started walking. He went down the slide and ran around in the yard and just soaked it all up.
By the time we got the kids bathed and calmed down after all that, it was bedtime. For Gerry, anyway. Scott and Bailey ran out for ice cream while I got Gerry ready to go to sleep. We blew some kisses, said goodnight to Ryder, and then it was bedtime.
And not a moment too soon.
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