"Can we get a dog?"

This is what Charlotte wanted to know today.  She loves dogs and until today has always thought our neighbors dogs were hers, too.  Which was great in our opinion, she gets to play with a dog sometimes and we don't have to take care of one.  We have no intention of getting pets anytime soon, if ever.  So when Charli asked today why we didn't have a dog, I valiantly tried "we do, we have two, Barney and Wilber" (our upstairs neighbor Tamar's dogs).  She retorted with "well, we need three or four dogs and one needs to live here with us".  So, I backpedal into simple explanations.  "We can't have a dog Charlotte.  Dogs are like babies; they need lots of love, and attention, and to be fed, and walked, and played with, and bathed, and cleaned up after.  We already have TWO creatures in this house that need all of that and we don't need more right now."  "So..." says the toddler thinking, "If we don't have Brooke, can we have a dog?"