Bad Dog, Marley!

I do a lot of clipping and saving things from magazines and elsewhere. Then I put these clippings into files, one of which is a "Books" file. I finally decided to go through my Books file and check to see if any of these were available from my library. On our library's web site you can check the card catalog, start a reading list for yourself, and request books from other libraries in the county. One of the books that I requested was a children's book recommended by Parenting magazine (I think) called Bad Dog, Marley! I picked it up from the library yesterday and read it to the boys last night. It was definitely worth requesting.

I just read some of the reviews on Amazon, and I can see how some parents might not appreciate teaching your child to say "Bad Dog" as opposed to "No, Dog." However, I guess I didn't really think about it like that. Our boys hear us discipline our dogs and are more likely to follow our example than that in the book. I am also not familiar with the grown-up version of this dog story by the same author.

There are two reasons why I think the boys liked this book so much. One, is that we have a puppy in our house right now that has tried Mommy's patience a little. She has done some peeing and pooping (in the house!), she has chewed things, and she has been a little crazy sometimes. She even resembles Marley physically. So, the boys can relate to the premise.

Secondly, Ryan has been very interested in the way a baby's language progresses lately. He frequently asks me how a baby pronounces words. For example he might ask, "How does a baby say 'Daddy'?" I might respond (in a baby voice), "Dada." We go through this a few times a day, and Ryan thinks it's kind of funny. In Bad Dog, Marley! the baby has things to say along with the rest of the family. When the sister asks for a puppy, "Oh please, please, please, please," Baby Louie asks, "Peas!" When the baby sees one of Marley's messes he says, "Uh-oh". Ryan's favorite is how after hearing the rest of the family say, "Bad dog, Marley!" Baby Louie says, "Bah boo-boo, Waddy!"

The boys were laughing so hard. It was that sincere laughter when something just tickles them down to the bones--not like that trouble-making laughter when they are getting a kick out of doing something they know they're not supposed to do!

Priceless!