Very Advanced.

The other day I was talking to Matt's dad, Spence, about possibly taking care of someone else's dog.  He joked about the problems could arise, you know, like the dog returning to its owners expecting to have freshly-shredded parmesan cheese sprinkled over its food and to sleep in a king-sized bed. (What?  You don't sprinkle fresh parm over your pup's food?)

And I acknowledged that, indeed, Mitch is pretty spoiled.

And Spence said, "How could you not spoil him?  He's a person!  Those facial expressions!"

And then I agreed and felt like a little less of a failure as a dog mom.

Spence isn't the first to make this observation, either.  Opal, back when she was barely two, told us, "Mitch sits on the couch like he's a person."  (Also, you should know that Opal's voice is almost exactly like that of Luke from Modern Family, which makes everything she says fifteen times funnier.)

What keen observations!

"Oh, hey, Aunt Cassie.  How's Fletcher been doing?  He's just a riot."

And that's not all.  See, when we discuss taking Mitch for a walk, we have to spell it out so that he doesn't get prematurely excited or possibly disappointed.  Today, I told Matt I thought I would take Mitch for a W-A-L-K, and Mitch looked up, got excited, and ran to his leash.

My dog child can spell.  And for that, he completely deserves to have parmesan cheese sprinkled over his food.