She Thinks She's a Dog

In the past, I have heard countless people tell me that their child is so interested in what the dogs do! They love to pretend they're walking dogs, pretend to eat like a dog, etc. My child? She legitimately believes she is a dog. No joke. Examples, you ask? Let me tell you...

She loves to eat dog food. No matter how many times I pull her away from the bowls and tell her no, she persistently returns. When I pick the bowls up off the floor, she diligently looks in every nook and cranny to find that ONE piece of dog food that is hiding. She also loves to remove the food from the bowl, and put it in the water bowl, laughing hysterically. Tonight, while I was cooking dinner, she dumped the water bowl all over, and was playing in it, feeding the dogs. Normally, I would probably flip out, but for whatever reason, I just let her sit there playing in the water and feeding the dogs. She had a blast.

Next example is quite nasty. The first time it happened, my boss received a text from me that was so panicky, that she probably thought the world was ending. I was upstairs getting baby boy ready for the day, when I come down to see Annabelle sitting in the middle of the floor snacking away on a nice pile of POOP! Oh my dear sweet lord, I didn't know whether to vomit or scream first! So, I look down at her, trying to decide what my first move was, and she is looking at me laughing like it's just the cutest thing in the world. I assure you, it was NOT. I immediately rushed her to the sink, rinsed her mouth out for about 10 minutes, scrubbed it with a toothbrush and paste, and gave her a bath, washing her about 6 times. Poor child was traumatized for sure. Thank goodness my boss is a medical professional, because I was certain Annabelle was going to have all kinds of parasites, and just be deathly ill. Luckily, she was able to calm me down, and assure me that she would just have a few gross BMs and be back to normal. Only my child would make it through this without any after effects. BUT, if you look back to the beginning, you will see that I said the FIRST time it happened. You read it correctly. A few weeks ago, this happened again. Are you starting to believe that she thinks she's a dog, yet?

So, moving on. Annabelle will eat ANYTHING. Seriously, anything within her line of vision. I am pretty sure she has Pica. She loves to eat scraps off the floor, that Jacob drops while he's eating. She eats feathers from pillows, cotton balls, ponytails, hair, you name it. I am constantly pulling random objects out of this girl's mouth. On a side note...I promise she is fed a healthy, well balanced diet!

And lastly, she insists on eating like this...

While wondering why my child believes she is a dog, I realized, they do kind of get treated like dogs sometimes. After all, we as parents are constantly barking orders at them! "Come," "Sit," "Stay." So, in her defense, perhaps she's confused! ;)

She'll eventually learn that she is human, right?!