My Horror Film

(Photo taken from wordpress.com)

Today had all the makings of a horror film.

The dilemma- Both dogs needed their vaccinations today and had an appointment at the same time. Husband out of town. No babysitter available.

So... one must do what one must do, right?

Two 50+ pound dogs to wrangle - one husband + two young kids who have a hard time being confined or sitting still - any available babysitter = a disaster waiting to happen.

I packed the dogs and double stroller into the back of the car. I figured confining both kids to the stroller was the better route to go rather than only confining Willem and letting Gerrit go on walkabout. Willem wants to do EVERYTHING his big brother does and frankly, I was afraid he might scream at the vet's office if he had to stay in the stroller but Gerrit was allowed to walk around. I walk into the vet's office with two kids in a front-to-back double stroller and two dogs on a double leash, with a slightly exasperated look on my face. They politely tell me to have a seat, but they look at me like I'm nuts. (I'm used to this look from Germans. You should see the looks I get when I'm riding the bike with both kids in the bike trailer and and one dog on each side of the bicycle. People can't help but stare and give the most bizarre looks with that one.)

I managed to herd the dogs and push the stroller into the exam room. The boys are sitting in the stroller along the side of the room watching everything. They are very curious about what is happening to their dogs. Niki is panting (she freaks out at the vet's office) and Jake is excited just to be someplace new right now. I put Jake on the exam table and the doc asks me why I am there. Uh... I thought given that when I had made the appointment I said the dogs needed their shots, this info. would have been passed onto him. Apparently not. I reiterate my needs (in bad German and some broken English when words escape me). He is satisfied with my attempts in German enough to do the necessary exam and give each dog their injections. Niki shakes the entire time, but she does fine.

The doctor even has the nerve to tell me he thinks my German is better than his English. That's laughable given that I only said two sentences to him in German and then he spoke mostly in English to me. (Ah well, I'll take the compliment given every time I receive one it makes me more willing to practice German. I'm sssooooo self-conscious about it and I still do not know enough vocabulary to have a decent conversation.)

I pay the bill, corral the kids and dogs back into the car and head home. Drop the four-legged kids off at the house and take the two-legged kids out to eat at our favorite Indian restaurant in town. Gerrit is excited and asks me, "Momma, do you like to eat rice at the Taj Mahal rice place because I love to eat rice there." (There is a big artistic drawing of the Taj Mahal there and Gerrit recognized it after a few times at the restaurant, and now the restaurant has been known by that name ever since.)

I had my doubts about how the boys would do at the restaurant. That could have been an entirely new disaster having ME... ALONE... with BOTH boys at a nice restaurant. This place ain't no Chuck E. Cheese, you know. But to my amazement, they were relatively well-behaved and ate extremely well. Made for a pleasant meal.

So... my makings of a horror film actually turned out to have a Mastercard commercial ending. Making it home with dogs, kids, AND my sanity in one piece.... priceless.

And just in case you are wondering what I look riding with dogs and kids, here it is. This video was taken last summer, and I took this video to specifically demonstrate this contraption to my family back in the U.S. - Helmet not required for me, except to encourage my kids to wear "their" helmets (which IS a requirement).