The church and recreation center were near Jefferson Square, which was about ten blocks from our apartment, so we made our way there giving Layla plenty of time to soak everything in. Her favorite thing was meeting a person walking a dog. Layla would just go nuts when she saw a dog, and even though we were a bit hesitant at first to let a strange dog get too close to her we eventually relaxed about it, especially after our last dog encounter.

We had been walking a few weeks before and had decided to take Layla to the local dog park. I mean, this kid really loves dogs. So when we got there Layla started her usual giggling and pointing. All the dogs were playing, and a few would come by and she’d laugh and want to play with them. Most of the dogs here were off leash so they were free to run and chase and just be dogs, and I loved watching them too. But Layla, well, it was a peak experience for her, so on this beautiful sunny Sunday morning about two weeks ago we were doing our standard thing and nothing unusual was happening. There were dogs playing, barking, Layla squealing, and so on.