Someone buy this poor kid a dog!

Ok, not really! No one better show up at my house with anything furry. This is just a line that Tom & I say to each other all the time. I just had to document how very, very much Anna is wanting a dog. She has asked for one for a long while, but lately it has become a daily topic of conversation. Just a few things that have happened lately:

*on our camping trip she spent days obsessing over how to catch or lure in some kind of wild animal to take home. She drove us all nuts trying to involve us in her plans - she really wanted Grammy to wait under a beach towel by a rubbermaid tote full of grass & carrot sticks to slam the lid over some unsuspecting bunny.

*when she got rewarded for learning to swim a few weeks ago I took them to the dollar store. Instead of a toy, she chose a "cat teaser" - one of those wands with felt fish dangling from the end - so that she might be able to lure any strays in our neighborhood into the house

*she has been saving money from her birthday & extra chores in a mickey mouse bucket for disney world... she came to me last week & said that I could take her bucket of money to the pet store to buy a dog because she would rather have a pet than go to disney. She said she would just stay at home while the rest of the family went & play with her new dog.

*we had dinner with friends this past weekend (so fun - thanks Alyssa!). Anna spent the whole time playing with their dog, Macy. She was in heaven! When Macy would get tired of playing pet shop or dog show & come downstairs, Anna would be down in a flash to tempt her back up. Once she even brought down a stuffed cat to trick Macy into chasing it upstairs. She also brought down some play money & asked if she could buy their dog.

*yesterday she realized that she could start petitioning Santa for a dog. She said that she is going to ask him for a dog every year until she gets one, and nothing else. She wrote a letter last night (I wish I could post it, but she colored all around it in black with stars like a night sky so it's hard to read - she said she was also wishing on those stars for a dog just in case Santa didn't come through). The letter reads, "Santa, I wut a dog for Cismis. A dog that gots a cage. A dog like this. A well dog. Anna Dayton" The last line is a "REAL" dog, so Santa won't get confused & bring her a stuffed poochie pet like he did last year. :) She drew a picture of herself walking a dog at the bottom of the letter.

We are researching small, non-shedding dog breeds & plan to get the girls a puppy sometime close to Christmas. Of course, don't tell her that! If anyone has any puppy advice it would be welcome!