Brunch, Babies, Bacon
Went to brunch, just me and Ellie this morning. As we walked into the homey section of our favorite spot, I take in the room as I usually do. I’ve done this ever since the head injuries, a hyper vigilance about my surroundings to find where I am safest from overstimulation and potential for accidents near my head. There’s a table against a wall close to the corner and share an awkward little dance with the host as I sit in the seat that has my back to the wall, my eyes to the door.
A group of 20 something’s sits at one table, another two tables are occupied by twosomes, and the last occupied table by the window is a one year old and his humans. The one year old had his eyes locked on Ellie as he twisted in his high chair to watch her progress.
Most people take note surreptitiously when we enter a room; it’s a psychic chorus of “dog” with varying degrees of punctuation added ( “Dog. Dog! Dog? Dog… DOG!!!!!) but this baby was just one prolonged “dooooooooooog” with a thousand o’s and an adorable open stare.
Often when folks make a big deal about Ellie and they seem kind, at the end of our meal I’ll ask if they want to say hi. It’s brought about some lovely encounters. I noticed baby was being walked around the room by mama, and she’s trying to keep distance while letting her kiddo visually love on my dog, his eyes still locked in. I take a sip of coffee and ask if they’d like to say hi.
The absolute glee on this babies face as Ellie turned around and tried to lick him!Whereas before, all eyes had been subtly trying to look at Ellie, now I could feel the open stare’s and smiles. Babies and dogs, man. The happiness is can be contagious.
After a moment Ellie turned her back on the baby and sat staring expectantly at me. I wondered if it meant she was done being social, before I realized that she knew there was still bacon on my plate. She loves kids and wants to say hi, but clearly bacon is a higher priority. And I have accidentally trained her to expect treats whenever she is sweet to someone in a controlled environment like this (with permission).
So today, while ten people looked on, my sweet beautiful sassy imp of a dog, licked a baby in the face and demanded a treat for it.