TED-dy

March 28, 2008

Erin double dipped yesterday after school: dentist and physical therapist. On the teeth front, I can report no cavities and only four remaining baby teeth (three of which are currently loose). Since the tooth fairy in her zone delivers a dime for each year of age she is, she's hoping to put off teeth loss until after June 20, so she can garner forty more cents. Physical therapy also went well, in that Kelli gave her thirty-five minutes of deep massage and helped her stretch her quads and hips (which is apparently crucial to easing what's going on in her back). It might have hurt, but it didn't require Erin to work very hard (which is the way physical therapy always looks on television). I think if she can get her pain under control and avoid her back locking up on her several times a day, then Kelli will introduce the harder part next week: building up her core muscles, with home workouts. I can't tell you how giddy with relief I am that we have a plan for eliminating Erin's pain, and that it doesn't involve any form of chemotherapy at all (or have anything to do with tumors).

Erin's giddy, too, but not for the same reason. Yesterday, Erin finally got the pay off for all the times in the last months that she has wished on the first star, thrown a penny in a fountain for a wish, and relied on the fortunes of a wishbone. Teddy came to live with us. Teddy is short for TED (not really shorter, but you know what I mean), and TED is short for Totally Erin's Dog. So this dog is neither a tribute to our pastor (sorry Ted) nor some environmental statement about Turtle Extrusion Devises.


Erin had worked and saved $95 so she could get her own lap dog from the animal shelter. Her three criteria were that it had to be relatively quiet (so its barking didn't stir up the other three dogs), it had to be cute and small (more on that later), and it had to love her. It has taken two weeks of visiting the shelter every day to find "the one." Teddy is a female Shih tzu mix, maybe a couple of years old (and already housebroken). She weighs less than 10 pounds, but I forgot to ask exactly how much.

Erin was a great little caretaker last night. . .very solicitous of Teddy's needs. She spent the evening cozied up with the little dog, who conformed to all the expectations that Erin's had conjured from her vivid imagination over many weeks about what "her" dog would be like. Without too much convincing, Teddy curled up just inside Erin's armpit with her chin on Erin's chest, while Erin read, almost like she had seen an advanced copy of Erin's script. Erin also took care of the feeding, watering, and potty duties. Bedtime was crate time. Erin had gone to the effort of sleeping with an old bath towel nightly since spring break to imprint her smell in hopes it would comfort Teddy when she put her and the towel in the crate for the night. That didn't work perfectly, as Teddy protested the crating a bit, but eventually they both drifted off to sleep.

The rest of the family hasn't welcomed Teddy quite as enthusiastically as Erin, but we're trying, and so far so good (although I must admit, she hasn't seen the Full Willie yet, only the I'm-Trying-to-Be-on-My-Best-Behavior Willie). At the risk of hurting Erin AND Teddy's feelings later, if they read this entry, I have to say that in my opinion, Teddy only meets two and a half of Erin's three criteria. So far, she hasn't barked much. She really does seem affectionate. And especially by Buenger household standards, she is small. But cute? You be the judge.