"Hey! What's She Lookin' At Anyway?"

Nebby, nebby, nebby.

I'll tell ya: the Little Squirt may instigate, but the boys are more nebby (our word for nosey or busybody-ish).

It seems no matter what stunt or prank Elsie pulls, the boys joy in. And no matter what lands in her mouth, the boys just have to observe what it is firsthand (even if it's something really boring, like a piece of fluzz or string pulled from a carpet). Better than observing, they want to share.

My canine kids are no better at sharing than my children were when they were preschoolers. Experienced mom that I am, I've learned to buy and distribute treats in threes: one for each drooling tongue and set of four paws. But that gets expensive.

The most cost-effective treat I've found so far is ice; it's free from the ice-maker and comes in unlimited supplies. Baxter, Elsie, and Ridge love ice cubes. Every time I refresh my water glass at the refrigerator dispenser, twelve paws come scurrying to see who can get an ice cube first.

Good mom that I am, I make them wait for their ice cubes until they can have them simultaneously (quite a trick when I have two hands to their three mouths). They must sit, wait, and take the cubes from my fingers gently (no snapping or gobbling allowed). And usually they're very patient with the process.

The hitch comes when one of the three drops his cube (I say "his" because it's usually Baxter). Then it becomes a free-for-all; the fastest nose wins.

Lazy mom that I am, I let them battle it out: there's no way I'm going to join the fray--not over an ice cube.

Unlike my canines, I'm just not that nebby.

'Til next time,
Joan