2.5 Kids

It’s the American dream right?  Marriage, 2.5 kids, house with a picket fence and walk in-closet?  I gotta say, I’ve been pretty lucky...I’ve been able to achieve all of that.  Yes, even the 2.5 kids.   

So three months ago, it was me and my wife, 2-year-old twin boys and our little, slow and getting-older-by-the-day basset/beagle mix, Heidi.  Since then, we added our 1/2 child who also happens to be a golden retriever, Renzi.   

I know many people treat their dogs like their children and even use them as a substitute at times, but I didn’t know what I was getting into when committing to adopt this loyal and lovable pooch.   

Due to extenuating circumstances, Renzi’s original mom had to give him up.  Long story short, friend of a friend situation, we’re approached with the idea.  Oh, another dog?  With two toddlers and a dog already?  Sure, why not, how hard can it be.   

At a spry 18 months old, Renzi fit right into our toddlers-rule-our-house lifestyle.  We used to have to worry about every little thing on the floor or in reaching distance when the boys started to crawl and then walk, mainly for safety reasons of course.  We were just getting used to being able to set things on an end table again.   

That all went away.  We found out pretty quickly that Renzi eats and chews everything.  You name it, he’s had it in his mouth.  On Sunday, he was chewing a bottle cap.  I’m sure he would have finished the job if I didn’t stop him.   

This dog eats more paper than the dog on the Abitibi paper recycling dumpsters.  I’m not even going to go into detail about how I know that since I rarely see him actually eat it.   

The boys get along with him fairly well, except that Renzi doesn’t realize that he’s as big as a small horse.  He has knocked the boys over on numerous occasions and they immediately point the finger of blame waiting for us to dish out the punishment like they would receive if one of them did it.  And you know it’s bad when I hear the boys say “No Renzi!” several times throughout the day.  Even they know what he’s not supposed to be doing.   

Even with all of this destruction and child-like behavior, Renzi has quickly become a very much loved member of the family.  The boys will have a dog to grow up with, we finally have a dog that can get along with other dogs and he’s so loyal that he would probably jump in front of train for me.  A few weeks ago he even bit me as we were playing and was so upset about it he kept checking all night, to make sure, (in his own little way), that I was OK.   

And while I’m sure my wife would still want another child—a girl perhaps—I’m very happy with the 2.5 we have now.  It’s the dream right?