A breaking point in dear Chloe's 6 year old life. And I am SO proud of her. Not in a "wow, she got a check plus on her coloring sheet" kind of proud, like life is going to change for our family someday kind of proud.
But first, a little history.
Chloe has, for a long long long long long time, been petrified of dogs. Screaming, scrambling up the closest adult as fast as she can, crying hysterically kind of scared. Everything about them freaked her out, even little ones. She would decline going to friends' houses if they had dogs, even if she really wanted to play with them. She would wait on the sidewalk on Halloween at each house so she wouldn't encounter any dogs. It was so sad. No matter how often I sat her down, hugged her, told her as directly and lovingly as I could that I would never, EVER let her near a dog that would hurt her and that many dogs were nice, or that licking was their way of saying hello, or that barking meant they were warning their owners and not that they were going to bite, she wouldn't budge on the matter. Once we were at a graduation party at a friend's house and there was a dog and she scrambled up me, screaming and hollering as loud as she could and sat there for the WHOLE TWO HOURS we were there. Her friends were running around the backyard having fun and she sat there crying and shaking the whole time we were there until we finally had to go. I felt so bad for her and never really understood why, it was just a thing with her.
Well a couple of weekends ago she was invited to a friend's house who had 3 dogs. I knew this ahead of time. She had been looking forward to this for a while, and so before she was picked up to go to her friend's house, I asked her if she knew they had dogs. She said that she did. I asked her if she was okay with that. She flinched a little, then said she was going to try to be brave. I reassured her that the dogs were super nice and that she could be brave, and she agreed. Amazingly, only the big dog they had to put away while she was there, the two little chihuahuas she got accustomed to. And even pet a little (!!!!). I hardly believed it, even little dogs I knew she had a big problem with, but from what I understood, she was okay with the little ones while she was there. WHOOOOO!!! Celebrate. I gave her a big hug and congratulated her, and she seemed proud of her accomplishment.
But that's not the end. The other day at soccer practice a dog on a leash ran up to her, and she held my hand questionably, but then the dog left and she didn't scream at all. (!!!!!) Then on the soccer field again, a woman with a small dog was standing near by, and Chloe actually came up to me and asked me if we could go over so she could pet the dog. (!!!!!!) She did, and even though the dog was a puppy and nipped at her a little, she didn't seem to mind. Both of those instances were also small dogs, but again, BIG steps forward.
Then today, a friend of ours from church brought his larger boxer dog with him to pick up his son from Chloe's class after school. Chloe has been to their house before and the dog had to be put away while she was there because she was too hysterical around him, even though he's super mellow and a great dog. We were getting ready to leave and Chloe saw the dog with her friend's dad, and she yanked on my hand a little and sweetly asked, "Mom, can we go pet the dog?"
Seriously?!?!?!?
"Ah, yes, Chloe, are you sure? Are you ready to pet a bigger dog?"
"Yes I am."
And we went over. And she pet the dog, even though he was wagging his tail and licking the faces of all the kids around him. And she loved it.
I was ecstatic.
Cause you know what this means?
We are now officially cleared to get a dog when we have our own place.
Yeah buddy.
This is what I want:
Aw....see, he's waiting to be part of our family, I know it!
Chloe approves.
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