It's a toss up

I don't know who is happier right now. Scout or David. The latter certainly needs a distraction. Keith's away at a conference and my little guy is suffering from a double ear infection and the flu. David has basically been sad and whimpering since Sunday evening. It's awful. On a whim, I let her inside and upstairs last night when David was really upset. All I said was, "Go see David." Scout is rarely in the house and when she is she is confined to the laundry room. I don't think she has ever even been upstairs, yet she went right to David's room and plopped down by his stuffed dogs. Ironically, David said, "Oh Scout, you can sleep with Hank." (Stuffed animal retriever.)

Tonight David begged that she be allowed in for stories. My Dad, "Poppy," had brought by a new truck that lights up and makes sounds. I told David that Scout probably wouldn't want to play with it. He promptly put the beloved new toy in the closet and sat on the floor waiting to hear Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel with man's best friend.

Thinking back, I remember having strep throat my first year of teaching and having Scout by my side the whole time. And she used to come sit with me outside during the summer that I was pregnant with Drew and always in some sort of pain.

Last night when I was doing my final kid check, she followed me into Drew's room, nosed the covers and then licked his head like Nana on Peter Pan.

I'm not going to mind hauling the vacuum upstairs tomorrow to get all the hair she will inevitably shed. It's worth it to finally see David smile.