A Duncan Story

A little over a year ago, Daddy and I made the hard decision to put Duncan the family dog to sleep. 

He was ten and a half and surgery was risky. Not a day goes by that I don't think of my pup. I guess I don't realize how much the kids miss him too. Today when going through John's backpack I found a little story he wrote about Duncan.

 

After reading it, I complimented John on his well written story. He said "It was hard to write. I miss him so much."  Me too Buddy. Me too. 

Duncan

Tonight we said goodbye to our dog Duncan. He was an important part of our family. 

John's big brother. 

Gillian's monkey. 

And our favorite snuggler. 

We will miss you. 

Reminiscing

Tonight while the kids were in the bathtub, John asked me "Do you remember when I was born?" What a question. How could a mom ever forget when her child arrived? Anyway, I said "Of course." He smiled and said "Do you remember when I walked for the first time?" I told him "Yes. And I can show you a video after your bath." He also asked me "What was my first word?" I told him "You said 'Mama' and then 'Dada' and then 'Dunc.'" He laughed. "Why didn't I say Duncan?" I explains that when you are little it is hard to pronounce words. He laughed again, like as if that could never happen.

After bathtime we warched some of his old videos. He laughed as little John attempted to walk across the basement. There was one video of John driving his little quad and he kept pulling his feet up. I told John that when he was little he didn't like the grass. He didn't believe me, but he still laughed at little John avoiding the grass. He asked me some more questions and we watched the videos a couple more times. I really enjoyed reminiscing with my little man. 

Wake up call

John is an early riser. On school days he wakes up before his alarm. On the weekends he tends to be the first one up. This morning was no different. He came into our room and started to climb into our bed. Daddy told him "John, go downstairs, open the backdoor for Duncan and then you can go downstairs and watch two shows."  John made it to the hallway and he started whistling to get Duncan's attention. Even Duncan thought it was too early to be up and he didn't move. Daddy finally told John to stop. John said "But I can't get Duncan downstairs!" Daddy said "What did I tell you to do?" John yelled "Open the door for Duncan! Oh, ok." And he disappeared. 

We really need to talk to him about being quiet in the morning and not waking up the entire house. 

My brother

Early this morning while Daddy & I were getting ready for work, John was snuggling Duncan in our bed. "I'm snuggling my brother!" John told us. Daddy asked him of he knew the names of Daddy's brothers. John said "Uncle T" and then he paused. He has only heard us talk about Uncle Bryan and Uncle Christopher and John was very little the last time he saw his two Uncles. We explained that all of Daddy's brothers are his little brothers. I asked John if he knew the names of my brothers. John hesitated. He said "Uncle Bob!" I told him Uncle Bob is Mommy's little brother. That made him giggle. I said who is Mommy's big brother? We gave him a hint and said he flies helicopters. John said "Uncle Joe!" And then he paused. "But who's my brother?" Daddy and I told him that Duncan is his brother. John liked that answered and he snuggled a little while with Duncan. He then said "Will Duncan be there when I get bigger? Because I will miss him if he is not with me!" I love my smart little man, but I'm not ready to have these serious talks with him yet. I can't remember exactly what Daddy's response was, but he basically told him to enjoy his time with his dog.