Our new family member

According to Claire it’s official. We have a full-fledged new family member. Her name is Isabel. And she is white and very furry. She’s a “real” dog we gave to Elle a few years ago for Christmas hoping to stunt her desire for a real pet and satisfy that little void in her heart she kept complaining needed to be filled. Well, I can’t even remember if our plan worked or if Elle gradually became complacent with the fact that we were adding a new baby and not a new dog at that time, but with the passage of time Elle’s new “pet” was forgotten. So, the other day Claire found the “real” dog in the back of the toy closet, proclaimed her name to be “Isabel,” and hasn’t let her out of her sight since. She has to be with us in the car (in a seat belt of course), taken along to her friends’ houses, taken into McDonalds, etc. And the trouble is that because according to Claire she is “real” she has to be turned “on” all the time. And the further trouble is that when she’s turned on, she keeps barking and yapping. And the even further trouble is that it appears that being in the back of the closet for an extended period of time has caused her yapping to skip and repeat a little bit…just like a scratched record. Are we in preparation for a real dog some day or what? Am I going to have a headache like I have the past couple days from continual yapping if we finally give in to the incessant plea for a dog? All I can say is that I LOVE Lilly the hamster and for now, luckily, she’s doing the trick. (Along with “Isabel” of course…oh, and Gracie’s “sea monkeys.”)