Like the wolf that rescued and suckled Romulus and Remus in the myth of the founding of Rome, Penelope has taken it upon herself to make sure that the cubs are properly cared for in this den.
With pure lupine prowess and powerful mothering instincts, she has followed around the babies from room to room, trying to lick them and getting anxious and distraught when they cry. It is clear that all of her instincts lie in caring for and nurturing them, but we have had to be careful that she not inadvertently hurt them too.
Her greatest concern arises when she cannot see them while they are crying. Her pattern is to want to run up and check on them, and then to look at her Peoples with concern, like, "c'mon, do something about this, it needs something!"
Penelope, if you could only suckle them for us like the wolf in the tale of Romulus and Remus, maybe we could get some sleep! Now that would be helpful.
But her concern is not without it's potential for an unintended incident; rest assured, we are aware. A couple of incidents last night illustrated why we need to pay attention.
While we were testing the bassinet last night, Penelope was really anxious about Luka, whom we had placed in the bassinet, who was crying, and whom she could not see. So, she jumped into the twin bassinet to check on him. Fortunately, she jumped into the empty side, and we learned a quick lesson as we work on integrating our whole family.
But unlike those who have had the audacity to suggest to this household of dog lovers and "Dog Listener" evangelists that we won't have time or space for our former children now that the real ones are here, we believe we can integrate the pack.
Well, at least André's compulsions about dog training leaves him believing that there will be no second class citizens relegated to coach in our family.
On the contrary, we hope our pups will be their best friends and protectors too, which means letting them engage together and normalizing their place in our pack. To that end, we have let Penelope and Buttercup interact with the kids and engage in bonding behavior with them too, while keeping them safe. What's so wrong with a little head lick, after all. It's how pups nurture and how dog and wolf packs show submission within the hierarchy. We want the kids at the top of that hierarchy! And André is compulsive enough and patient enough to do it. And... Wait, where does all this wolf pack stuff come from? Maybe he was the one raised by wolves? Hmmm...
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The rest of our first night was not without challenge. Therein lie the night terrors. And by night terrors, we don't mean that the kids had nightmares. No, we mean Annika and Luka, who terrorized us with interrupted sleep, repeated feedings and inconsolable crying.
That's right, just look at Luka:
Tell me he does not inspire fear with all his terribleness!
We will of course adjust, and we expected a rough night after the journey home; growth spurts; cluster feeding and the need to balance nutrition, breast feeding and the need to minimize using a bottle in the first weeks of life while Kristin's milk comes in and while we are still working on proper latching. In the meantime, we continue to be thankful for Kristin's parents and all they do to keep us same and more rested.
And, after all, we will only think of these two beauties as terrors when the night comes, and when we face another night in the labyrinth of sleeplessness, like Theseus trying to slay and not be slain by the Minotaur.
May Ariedne's web show us the way!
