Dog-Gone We nearly Lost it....

The Dog that is. Wednesday I foolishly let Atticus
take his beloved "doggy" out of the house.
"Doggy" is Atticus's best friend. Although the
relationship is not always tender and loving,
Atticus is pretty dependent on the dog.
During his resting hours the dog can usually be
found on his head (as shown in pic) or underneath
either way the dog is there. In order to fall asleep, Atticus will bang the dog against the railing of the bed and then bang the dog against his own head in order to relax. Interesting, but it works for him. When Atticus wakes up in the morning, he has three needs
1. Doggy
2. Binky
3. Milky--- the overuse of the "y" is another blog and something that I havent come to understand yet.
Anyway, unable to accomadate all of his acoutrements Atticus throws the dog downstairs
(its 9 feet or so) and then picks him up again on the way
down. Once downstairs, the dog is likely to be a team player with Atticus in all activities. When
Atticus tries to use the toilet, the dog is shoved in the toilet first. "The doggy has to go pee pee"
When Atticus wants to brush his teeth. "Brush
Doggy's teeth". When Atticus is Dad's shop, the
Doggie gets to be hammered.....you get the picture
this dog is everywhere. Often we find him in the
oddest of places. Stuffed inside a box, a lego
container, a kitchen drawer, the fridge etc. We
spend at least 30 minutes looking for the dog
everyday which is why we didnt think too much of it when we couldnt find the dog Wednesday night. Unfortunately, this was the first night our 14 y.o neighbor boy was to watch the kids so we could go see Batman. Prior to leaving
I had tried to find the dog and couldnt
Atticus was seeming a little anxious as I tried
to get him to sleep, but I thought it would turn up and didnt think to much about it.
We left, thinking the kids would get so sleepy
that the dog would not matter. Wishful thinking. Atticus did not go to bed, either did Piper and He went to bed and woke up looking for the darn thing. Needless to say, Raliegh ( the babysitter) who thought the kids would be in bed, had a couple of livewires on his hands. His dad ended up coming over to help him get them to sleep. Smart Dad put them on the couch with a movie where they finally fell asleep. I was too scared to ask at what time. I hope he will come again. The next day we searched high and low for the dog. Atticus was not sleeping (which, as Summer pointed out, has always been his strong point) and seeming really anxious. I went to work that night and came home to a full bed as Chris had a bear of a time getting them to sleep. I came home in a panic, his no dog anxiety was effecting me, no sleep for him = no sleep for me. I planned a mission for the following day to scour all places we had gone to FIND THAT DOG!!!! Piper had casually mentioned to Chris that the dog was at the park. But not listening to Piper we went with Atticus who said first "Molly took it" (molly is the nanny. I knew in my gut she had been eyeing the dog but didnt think she would be so brave to take it) and then he said " Summers House". So, to Summers we went. No go. Very Bummed about it I decided to call Brackett Park where we had gone and where Piper said it was and Thank goodness, they had it. " Is it floppy and a little dirty with a pink nose" the staff asked. I honestly had no idea about the nose and a little dirty sounded kind for our dog but I hoped and it was the dog. Thinking Atticus would be elated I handed him the retrieved dog and he just took it and put it on his lap, like it had never been gone. Go Figure. But all is well again in the Campbell household and the dog endured his first stair toss this a.m. I thought I saw him smile.