Even Daisy knows . . . . . .

Every weekday morning after dropping Avni to school, Daisy knows its her walk time and to an extent demands it as though it’s her right. She patiently waits till Avni has gone to school and won’t make a single peep till I am back after school drop off. She patiently watches our morning rush to get Avni to school, but the moment I am back, she keeps wandering around me and I guess in her language asking me “Can we go now” or"isn't it time yet".

She is patient and waits by my side as long as I am doing real/actual work like using the bathroom or drinking water or running laundry. The moment I take the phone and start staring at it, she loses patience and starts vocally showing her impatience.  Trust me she won’t stop till I keep the phone down.

I wonder if she is saying “please keep the phone down for in not doing so, you are wasting your time (which is ok) and you are wasting my precious time too” :) 

The new super hero – MLK

Today my daughter enlightened me as to why we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday. 

In her own words (translated from Kannada), long time ago before she was born and I was born or her grand parents were born there were rules that said only white people can play in the park and black people only play football and brown people only play basketball. Then MLK said everybody should play together and then on all kids play together in the park. That is why he is a superhero. Her follow on question was since he is called the king, does that mean he is the king of the whole world?

Anyways, I don’t know the answer to the question she asked but I am amazed that she was able to grasp the narrative at school (in English medium) and was able to translate and re-tell the story in Kannada (our native language) to both me and Sandhya.

On one hand, I was quite surprised that the teachers at CDC were talking about sensitive subject like racism to kids at pre-k level but on the other hand I am more than appreciative of them for engaging them at such early ages.

In the words of her teachers they could feel her like a civil attorney arguing a case. Considering she beats me up for disciplining Daisy (our pup), I am guessing we either have an attorney or an activist in the making. 

Doggy camp and boarding

Recently when we had to go on our vacation, most of the stuff related to vacation like tickets, accommodations and attractions were done in advance. But this time around unlike last time we had a family member who wasn't going to accompany us on our trip and of course she is not able to handle herself by herself either, no she is not old or bed ridden, in fact she is young at heart and in body too. Yes you guessed it right, it was our pet daisy.

Thanks to our Circle C Ranch Facebook page I found a few dog highly recommended dog boarding places that I short listed to checkout

In general

• There are a lot of dog boarding places in and around our neighborhood
• 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas are the busiest times and
• The cost of boarding is in the range of $30-$35/day
• I can’t comment about the business side but almost all the places I visited had decent number or a lot of dogs
• Most dog boarding places are plain boarding places and that means they provide a semi private indoor place for your pet and let them out every 3 to4 hours for 10-15mins and put them back inside
• They in general won't allow group play for dogs or more than required time outside the kennels
• Some places were ridiculous, they were quoting extra $15-$20 for 10-15mins of group play in a day.
• One of the places even offered a doggie massage and also human time instead of group time, that would be $10-$20 for 15mins
• The same place also offered nature walk for the pup but 10mins walk would cost $15, considering I take my dog out for 40minute walk in the morning and something similar in the evening, 10minutes sounded ridiculous
• After seeing the other places out there, day camp and boarding at our neighborhood petsmart looks very primitive (no outdoor space and cramped play space)
• Of all the places I visited best I liked was Dog Camp in Dripping Springs and next one was Bobby Colorado training camp

Since I couldn’t get Dog Camp, I had to board her at Bobby Colorado. At the end of 10 days, my pup looked happy and I admit had lost some weight but nothing to worry about.

Future animals rights activist

It was a hot Sunday afternoon, Sandhya was trying to feed Avni. Both were sitting on the floor and as usual our pet Daisy wanted to be near  them and I was holding Daisy’s leash back and asking her to stay back. Suddenly,  Avni who was doing some art work stands up with an angry face and the following happens.

A: Manju, say sorry to daisy
M: why?
A: because you are mean to her
M: no I was not
A: not leaving the pets is mean
M: I was just trying to hold her back
A: not leaving Daisy near amma is mean, say sorry to her
M:sorry Daisy

Avni then comes near me and says “leave the leash now, do what I say”.

Her last statement was,

"Being nice is to let everyone to play"