Furry Friday: Toddler Tuesday

This Tuesday I watched my friend Danielle's daughter Jackie again.  I held off on posting about it until Friday because much of what I wanted to post about centered on Riley.  I must say I was so proud of how good he's been when we've had Jackie over.  You see, he's a spoiled only child.  He's great with adults, dislikes other dogs, and hasn't had too much interaction with anything under 4 years of age.  Crying babies on TV make him go bananas, as do animals, people dressed as animals (i.e. Lola), joggers, and the occasional football/basketball game.  So each time we've had Jackie over, it's been interesting to watch his interactions with her during some of his daily activities.

• Fetch.  Riley loves fetch and it just so happens that Jackie likes to throw things.  I didn't think I'd see the day where Riley tired of fetch, but with an energetic three year old pitching he finally met his match.  
• Food.  Jackie decided to hand feed Riley while I was making her supper.  This is where our prior training of him has paid off.  We've always made it a point to sort of pester him while eating just so when we did have kids he'd already be used to it.  He doesn't mind being petted, he doesn't mind you reaching into his bowl, and he certainly won't turn down the opportunity to be hand fed.  We do have to work on his begging though, because he thinks that any food should be shared and preferably with him.
• People watching.  Riley loves to sit on the back of the couch and stare out at our neighbors and anyone passing by.  When Jackie's around he skips this part of his routine.  Apparently her constant movement provides enough entertainment. I only wish I could better describe his expressions while watching her.  He doesn't know quite what to make of her.  Not to mention that when she talks to him she's loud and it's in her own version of English which he's not accustomed to. 
• Going for a walk.  Riley has been enjoying longer walks recently since we're trying to shave some weight off him, and this was the perfect opportunity to help Jackie relieve some of her energy as well.  Riley doesn't "walk" he "runs" everywhere he goes.  I've yet to determine if it's just because of his short legs or if he just likes to run.  Either way, Jackie likes to run everywhere too.  It became a perpetual game of "me first" because Riley thought he needed to outrun Jackie and vice versa.  
• Snuggle time.  After a long walk, Riley likes to come home and snuggle on the couch with the white blanket.  Jackie just so happens to have a miniature version of our white blanket that she snuggles with as well.  The only thing is, Jackie's not a fan of sharing her "blankie" so every time Riley would come over to snuggle against her and her blankie she would get up and move away.  Riley had the most forlorn face.  You could tell he was tired and he didn't understand why she didn't want to show him a little love.  I finally convinced her that he just wanted to snuggle with her and be petted so he could fall asleep.  I showed her how he liked his ears rubbed to which she said to him "you have nice ears, where'd you get your ears?"  Justin and I got a good laugh out of that.