Three Plus a Dog June 14, 2009

This weekend my husband, baby and I went on a little weekend get away to a resort on the Hood Canal. We chose to take the Bremerton ferry back to Seattle to which we arrived 45 minutes early. To kill some time and entertain our almost 11 month, old we took a walk up to the near by Starbucks. Our daughter promptly alerted us to the doggie sitting outside by calling out "waaa waaa waaa". I took her outside to meet the doggie. The dog owner was a dad who was out with his three small and smallish children. He too had an 11 month old, strategically strapped into the stroller and a 4 and 6 year old. We had a nice little chat about our children. He highlighted to me that his oldest had just finished Kindergarten. I found that to be such a nice thing to say in front of his daughter to make her feel special. Being the oldest I'm sure she doesn't necessarily get all of the attention she deserves. He also handled a possible fight over whose turn it was to walk the dog with the perfect mixture of kindness and authority. I was so impressed by his method and how his children immediately listened to him and trusted his judgement. I admired this daddy not only for the courage to go out alone with three children and a dog but with the ease and kindness he displayed doing it.