thanks, Big Guy.

I was cleaning the kitchen up after lunch a few days ago, after Stephen had left for work.  Christopher was crawling around on the floor in the kitchen, playing with some toys.  I had already gotten on to him several times for trying to get into Baxter’s food dish while Baxter was eating, so I finally moved the food so that the poor dog could finish eating in peace without being terrorized by Christopher.  I was still keeping a close eye on C to make sure he didn’t make his way back over to the food, though. 

A few minutes went by and Baxter finished eating, but I noticed there was still a few little pieces in his bowl.  I gave him a treat and he ran off into the living room with it to eat it.  Christopher headed off in a different part of the kitchen, and I watched to make sure he didn’t grab a few pieces of Baxter’s food, then turned back around to finish wiping off the countertops.  A few minutes went by and I could hear Christopher babbling in the living room.  I knew he would have walked by Baxter’s food bowl to get to the living room, so I went in to check to make sure he didn’t have any food in his hands or mouth.

When I walked in, Christopher was just crawling around, and Baxter was hovering around him.  I bent over to check his hands - nothing.  But he was still babbling, and it sounded a little… strange.  I decided to check his  mouth for a piece of Baxter’s food… so I stuck my finger in his mouth and sure enough, I felt something!  But it wasn’t a little bitty round piece of food… it was bigger, and very hard.  As I pulled it out, I realized it was half of a milkbone.  Ew, ew, double ew.  I guess Baxter hadn’t eaten his whole treat at once, and Christopher had gotten to the other half before Bax could finish it. I was freaking out for two reasons - one, because he could have choked on his huge dog treat, and two, because that is just gross.

I scooped Christopher up and took him into the bathroom to use his new gum/tooth cleaner so that I could at least try to clean his mouth out after sucking on a milkbone.  The “brush” that I bought for him is actually a little rubber thing that slips on my index finger and has little bristles on the end of it.  So I put it on, and stuck my finger back in his mouth to brush his gums and two cute little teeth.  Of couse, all he did was bite my finger.  I brushed for probably 15 or 25 seconds (as best as I could, at least, with him biting on my finger) and was about to finish up when I decided to do one last sweep around his mouth and under his tongue… and when I did, I pulled out yet another little piece of milkbone - small, yet big enough that he would have choked had I not found it and he had tried to swallow it.  It literally gave me goosebumps when I realized that he could have easily choked on it, had I not taken him in to brush his teeth, or decided to do one final sweep around his mouth.  Needless to say, I was sending thanks up to the Big Guy for keeping my little man safe and sound that morning.

From now on, Baxter doesn’t get treats unless I watch him eat the whole thing.