Eli, the Caregiver

Eli loves Sam. Absolutely adores him. No clue what sparked this love, but he cares for that stuffed dog like no other. Grandma Cathie gave it to him quite a while back, but he only started to play with Sam (the dog) just before the holidays. He asks to take Sam in the car, on walks with us, to the dinner table. One day I even let him bring Sam to school, but he had to wait in his school bag while he was in class. The first thing Eli said to me when he got into the car that day was, "Sam is??"

This past weekend he decided to feed Sam, but as usual, he wanted to feed him people food. I explained to him again that dogs eat doggie food, so Sam couldn't eat turkey burgers with us. (I konw it's not a huge deal, but we 'know' a lot of dogs through friends and neighbors and I don't want him to try and feed cake or hot dogs to someone's pet.) Lehr told Eli to get a bowl for water for Sam and that was the end of it. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to feeding Sam. He is the most well-fed stuffed dog I know!