Dog Vomit

It's about time I tell this revolting story. I've been trying to forget it for several days, but I think the only way I can truly purge my memory is to tell the story.

I bravely took the dog and the baby with me to the veterinarian. Or perhaps it was not an issue of bravery, but rather of stupidity. I knew my hands would be full, but I thought I could handle it. It's a bitterly cold day, that's even how they described it on the weather station. "Bitterly cold with a dangerous windchill". I manage to get everyone packed in the car, Sookie on the floor in the front passenger seat. Of course she is not happy down there and continually attempts to jump into the passenger seat which is blocked by my diaper bag/backpack, so she ends up climbing up the side of my backpack and hanging on by her fingernails trying to balance and stay on top of it. I keep pushing her back down.

We get to the vet's office and suddenly I am at a loss. Do I take the baby in and ask the nurse to hold him while I get the dog or do I take the dog in and ask the nurse to hold the dog while I get the baby? I settle on taking the dog in first. The problem arises once I get inside and there's nobody behind the desk. I wait and wait and wait, and the baby's still outside, alone in the car! Finally somebody comes and agrees to hold the dog. I run out to the baby who is, by now, crying.

When we come back in the nurse has weighed Sookie, and been peed on by Sookie. What a good dog, eh? Everything goes pretty well during the visit. She doesn't even seem to feel the shot, she's happy as a clam with the vet who says she's healthy and beautiful, all these things which we knew before. So we head back out to the car: baby first, then dog.

Once we're in the car Luke falls right to sleep. He hasn't had a nap all day long and by now it is 4:30. He has been incredibly grumpy, and presumably is teething, but AT LAST he sleeps! I decide to extend this nap by driving around a bit. But Sookie is still unhappy on the floor of the car. She clambers up onto the seat over and over. Finally she seems to settle down onto the cushion on the floor. But moments later I realize why she's so still...she's about to puke! I curse loudly and the baby wakes up..and what more can I do?! I can't stop, and even if I did pull over I have nothing to clean this mess up with, and opening the car doors for any length of time does not seem smart with such a cold wind. She pukes right into the depression beneath the handbrake, and it just keeps coming! It fills the spot beneath the handbrake, overflows down the side of the passenger seat and into the soft black rubber around the brake.

Gross. Gross, gross, GROSS! It smells like dog food, and now she's eating it again. I try to stop her from eating it, but then I realize the more she eats, the less I'll have to clean up, so I let her at it. The only thing I can do now is drive straight home. The sound of her licking makes me want to vomit too.

I should have gotten a baby-sitter.