Month twelve: Let me tell you 'bout my best friend

There is a blooming relationship in our house... between Madeus and our dog, Mahna Mahna. It was shaky between them for a while, Madeus wanted more but Mahna Mahna just wanted Madeus to go away. I have already mentioned that Madeus can listen to the "Mahna-Mahna" song over and over again so his love has long been evident. We are not sure when it all changed for Mahna, but we have our suspicions. Maybe it was out of necessity - Mahna Mahna's best friend, our cat, Cleveland, temporarily moved to Colorado so there has been no playmate for Mahna. Maybe it was that Mahna's and Madeus' names have been mixed up so many times by all of us (we didn't think of this when we were picking out names) that they decided to team up. Maybe a baby that can crawl and walk became less of an annoyance and more of a potential dog walker to Mahna.

While all these things may have played a role, we think most of the transition stems from the transfer of food between the two. Before Mad's move to solid foods, we had this great dog who didn't eat or beg for table food. That is until food started dropping from high chairs and until Madeus thought it would be a good idea to hand feed the dog anything he disliked. Mahna shares his food as well, and we have found Madeus attempting to sample the goods and playing in the dog's water bowl (yes, I know this is not sanitary). When they are not exchanging meals, they play "fetch" with a tennis ball. Madeus puts it in his mouth and then puts it in Mahna Mahna's mouth (yes, I know this is not sanitary). On top of that, the only "person" Madeus consistently gives his open mouth kisses to is Mahna, who licks Mad's mouth while Madeus shrills in glee (yes, I know this is not sanitary). And... there was the unfortunate incident, one time, where we had a close encounter in which Mahna tried to mount Madeus (yes, I know this is not sanitary and could may even be illegal).

I recently read that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's mouth. I find this hard to believe, but it does offer me some comfort as we navigate this new, very touchy, relationship.