Mommy, Can I Have A Puppy?

 "Mommy, Can I Have A Puppy?"

That is what I heard on the way home tonight from a certain four year old girl. Each night, on our drive home from work/daycare, Mallory and I try to talk about her day or as of late we have started the " would you rather eat pickles or tomatoes?' or "do you like Minnie or Daisy better?" Questions like that. I LOVE hearing what she has to say....some crazy stories and conversations have happened because of silly questions like these....ANYWAYS....so tonight she was pretty quiet and wasn't really into answering my questions...all of a sudden I hear this sweet, little voice come from the backseat whispering, "I really miss Peanut, mom." AWWWW.....my heart broke a tad bit.....As you all know (if you have read previous blogs) that our little doggie Peanut got hit by a car this past spring. Mallory and Peanut had a special relationship and were the best of buds. She had a hard time dealing with the death of "her best friend" as she has told me numerous times. But as of late, she hasn't said much about Peanut besides the occasional mention of Peanut during prayer time. Tonight....she was pretty sad again and asking so many questions that I know I'm not explaining well enough for her to understand...otherwise I wouldn't think she would keep asking....So we discussed that Peanut went to heaven and was with Jesus and reminded her we still had Peanut's sister Roxie to love on. We talked about some of our favorite memories. She said...."Mom, did you know Peanut use to let me ride on her back when I was one?" NOOOO! I didn't know that....especially knowing how much Mallory weighed and knowing that poor Peanut only weighted like 12 lbs....:) YIKES! She just giggled.....then the conversation went to : "Mom, can we go on vacation to see Peanut?" Oh how I wish, we could on vacations to heaven. How awesome would that be.....Then it came....."Mommy, can I have a puppy? A little one, like Peanut. I loved Peanut so much that we could name it Peanut!" Sooooo excited, she was! Me.....not so much. I have told Mick that I don't think we should get any new pets until our schedule is more stable. This was brought up way before we lost Peanut. I told Mallory we already had a pet and explained to her that puppies were hard to train and took a lot of time, etc. She very strongly argued..."But mom, we can ALL help. You, me and dad. As a family." Ha! Good one....learned that lesson a long time ago. But I will tell you........she almost had be convinced. She is very persuasive. And sooo sweet about it....So you're all chomping at the bit to hear whether we are getting a puppy....I know...I know.....THE ANSWER IS......nope! My sister is getting one and so is our good friend's the Baptist......so we will babysit as needed and my hope is that will suffice the four year old from the backseat.....

 I believe this is our future.....lol!