Mr Barkley and his boy, Ryan

The first thing you should know here is that I grew up watching all those cartoons and shows that now have parental warnings on the front of their dvds.  Like Sesame Street, Loony Tunes, Tom and Jerry, and Rocky and Bullwinkle.  I am told that kids today don’t know what is real and what isn’t, and so should not be allowed to see these “fantasy” type things.  Whatever!!  But this is a discussion for another day and another blog…I am here to talk about Mr Peabody and Sherman as a start to this entry…

I would hope that everyone who is reading this knows that I am speaking of “Mr Peabody’s Improbable History”, which was a short played during The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.  If you are unfamiliar with this cartoon, then you should either look it up on hulu or order it from Netflix, and after you have watched it consider yourself educated.  I will give a brief synopsis of the first episode.  Mr Peabody was well educated (Ivy League schools) and spent time working for top officials…then he discovered that his life was missing something.  He looked around to see that other dogs had boys, and decided that he should get a boy too.  With much deliberation in court, it was decided that if a boy could have a dog, then there was no reason that a dog couldn’t have a boy…and so Sherman became his boy.  Upon taking Sherman home, it was discovered that an apartment was no place for a boy…a boy needed room to run, and so he invented the WABAC machine to take him on historical adventures.  This is the premise for Mr Peabody’s Improbable History…and the beginning of an observation.

A little over 6 months ago we bought a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel puppy, who we named Barkley.  My son was around 8 months old at the time, and when we brought him home they saw each other…they were both very curious about the other.  I set Ryan on the floor and Barkley came up and they touched noses…and in that one touch and smell Barkley adopted his boy.  From that day forward he has been Ryan’s protector and pillow, and I have never worried about the two of them together.  As Ryan started to crawl, Barkley was always a little way ahead of him to urge him forward.  When I would lay Ryan down to sleep, whether on the floor or on the couch, Barkley would always lay down beside him.  There was once when Ryan was on the bed with my husband and I, we were letting him explore a little and I don’t think Barkley approved, as when Ryan got within a foot of the edge of the bed he would plant himself between Ryan and the edge and would very often fall off in his attempt to keep Ryan on the bed.  As Ryan is now walking Barkley runs with him, they steal toys from each other and run away hoping the other will chase them.  I am not sure if it was Barkley running around, or Casey running around that encouraged Ryan more into walking early.  He started walking at 10 months, and was playing chase by 11 months old. 

Ryan shows love by backing himself up to you and then sits on you…whatever is available, lap, head, arm, tummy, or leg.  This is what he does to Barkley…he backs himself up to him and plops himself right next to him.  He hugs him in the morning after he wakes up, and Barkley just sits there and lets him do it.   Barkley has started becoming almost impatient with me in the  mornings of late…if I don’t get up fast enough after he hears the boy wake, he will come up and stand on my chest.  Then when I open the door he bounds into Ryan’s room and right up to his crib to smell him, and after I get him out and put him down Barkley has to thoroughly smell him to be sure I have the right boy…they hug and greet each other, only then can we move forward through our day.  While Ryan is in his high chair eating Barkley sits or lays on the floor beneath his chair waiting ever patiently for Ryan’s donations to his cause, and Ryan has been very purposeful in his feeding him lately.  These two will be friends for all of Barkley’s life; they love each other like no dog and boy I have ever seen.  Truly this is Mr B (as we call him) and his boy.