The Care and Feeding of Dotty G.

     If ever there was a waste of time and energy it would have to be worrying.  I recently spent forty weeks worrying about what a new baby would do to the Joneses.  Now that Miss Dorothy Grace is among us I am embarrassed and ashamed that I did. The whole family has welcomed our baby with enthusiastic open arms. Ariel transforms into a pile of mush every time she flashes him a smile and works very hard to please her if she cries. I caught him watching Barney with her on his phone the other day, a true sign of parental devotion.  Clara is forever singing her ABC's and Wiggles songs about Dorothy the Dinosaur to her little sissy.  Enzo will go to any extreme to make Dot laugh.  Aston treats her like an equal, playing tag with her by running around the house like a madman then stopping next to her to either touch her or be touched by her.  He also talks with her as if she can talk too.  When Dorothy was a week old she was screaming her head off in the car and Aston calmly said to her, "You can stop crying now Dor-Tee, it's not gonna work.  They're not gonna buy us candy".

     As with most pets everyone gets really excited about feeding the baby.  Enzo, Clara,and Aston all enjoy helping me pick out jars of baby food.  This week's grocery trip was a real treat as the grocery store was stocked with all sorts of new flavors for Dorothy to try.  The kids were ooohing and ahhing and throwing jars in the cart as they announced, "Strawberry", "Mango", "Pineapple Smoothie".  I was deep in thought trying to decide if it would kill their enthusiasm if I asked them to lay off the Beech Nut because Gerber was sixteen cents less per jar when Aston's jubilant squealing pierced through my concentration.


     "Oooh yay!  Oooh yay!  Grass and pickles!  Grass and pickles!  Dor-Tee is going to love this one!!" 

     And my decision was made, just like that.  They enjoy taking care of their baby.  Don't ruin it over pocket change, Cheep-o.

Grass and Pickles
baby food