I think Sydney loves her!

After watching Sydney and Taylor interact since we brought Taylor home from the hospital, I've been watching Sydney around the baby for signs on whether or not she likes her.  Sydney is a sweet little doggy to begin with, so I knew her personality would be no problem.  However, I've been trying to look for signs that she loves her new little sister.  It took some time since I think Sydney wasn't sure about this new arrival right away.  She wasn't mean, but you could tell she didn't really know what to think.  I did notice that after a while, she wanted to be around the baby more and more.  Here are some cute little stories that I think prove my point that Sydney loves Taylor...

Baby Taylor got her first immunizations yesterday at the pediatrician's office.  She got the oral vaccination for Rotavirus (glad she got that... my nephew had rotavirus when he was a baby before the vaccine was available, and it was nasty!) and 3 shots: DTaP (Diptheria, throat illness; Tetanus, lockjaw; and Pertussis, whooping cough), HIB (meningitis), and PCV13 (pneumococcal disease, which also causes meningitis and pneumonia), and IPV (polio).  All that was just FYI for new parents who will have to have their baby vaccinated around age 2 months.

Anyway, as you can imagine, the poor little baby was miserable and fussy yesterday.  After all, her little legs were sore from the shots going into her thighs, and she wasn't feeling that great from them either!  Wouldn't you?

I tried to comfort her during one of the times that she was crying, but nothing I did would comfort her.  I sat down on the couch and tried to pat her back with her little head up on my shoulder.  Sydney, who was sitting in the window right behind the couch, walked over and gave Taylor a kiss on the forehead -- and the baby instantly stopped crying!  It was though Sydney was upset by her crying and gave her a kiss to say, "Don't cry, little baby!"

Another way that I know Sydney loves her new little sister is that when Taylor is gone, she misses her.  I went to visit my parents in Johnstown a couple of weeks ago.  Matt stayed home and kept Sydney with him since traveling with both the baby and dog by myself was a bit much.  So, Taylor and I were in Johnstown, and Matt and Sydney stayed in Pittsburgh.  Later that night, Matt sent a picture to my phone of Sydney sitting underneath Taylor's baby swing with her head down.  She had a look on her face that seemed to say, "Where's the baby?"

Perhaps the cutest thing that Sydney does when Taylor cries is that she has to come to the rescue.  If Taylor is in her playpen and starts to cry, Sydney jumps up at the side of it (it's very sturdy, and Sydney isn't big enough to knock it over), looks and sniffs where the baby is, and then looks at either one of us... like we didn't notice that she's crying.  I think it's her way of saying, "She's crying... do something to make her stop!"

It's also very cute when we take Taylor to her room to change her diaper.  Sydney will follow us to the changing table and then watch us change her diaper... either for a brief time or she'll sit there and watch until we're done.  Matt and I jokingly say, "Sydney the Supervisor!"  I'll then reassure Sydney that, yes, we're doing our job.

So, when you bring your new baby home to meet your dog, it may take some time, but over the course of several weeks, you'll start to notice signs that your dog loves your new little one!