The next morning, Breakfast-Bot got the family's breakfast on the table, and made a point to make sure the animals were given their food as well. Sid found herself leaning on Lalo as the two of them came into the kitchen. She looked like she was struggling to stay awake. Lalo's snoring awoke her at two in the morning and continued to keep her awake for hours. She didn't blame him.
"Morning Changs! Time to start another day! Sid, you alright, you look like a zombie?" asked Stanley.
"This big guy made sleeping a tad rough, but I can't get angry with him, he's just a big lovable furball!" replied Sid as she ruffled Lalo's head, he enjoyed that.
"Well, you girls will have to go to school, but don't worry, Mr. Filliponio is going to be stopping by, he's agreed to let Big Tony and Little Sal have a playdate with Lalo," Becca told her daughters as the family sat down to breakfast. As they were getting out of the apartment, Vito came by with his dogs.
"Hey Changs, glad to see yeh! I got a big day planned for Lalo, Big Tony and Little Sal here," said Vito as he gently scratched behind Lalo's ear. His dogs didn't seem to mind sharing affection.
"Well, we appreciate you helping us out, especially considering we have to go to work and the girls have to go to school," said Becca.
"Think nothing of it, Hector's a friend of mine, and I'm glad to do it," said Vito as he, the Changs and the dogs walked out of the apartment and then parted ways outside the building. Vito taking all three dogs to the park.
"Well, youse three go have fun, cause a ruckus with all the other dogs, I'm just going to grab a bite to eat," Vito told them as he let them loose in the enclosed space that served as a dog park. Satisfied, he went over to grab a hot dog at Bruno's cart. Lalo decided to roll around in the dirt. Typically, Big Tony and Little Sal didn't go for the whole roll around in the dirt thing, often considering themselves too sophisticated. They just watched Lalo enjoying himself before he got up, went after a piece of tough rope that made a good chew toy, and brought it to them. They saw very clearly what he wanted, and the two of them grabbed the end that wasn't in his mouth, and they had a tug of war contest. Lalo ended up winning.
Vito and Bruno watched them interacting with each other, Vito was glad that the dog park wasn't too busy because that would have potentially caused too much commotion with his dogs already keeping an eye on Lalo.
"Yeah, gotta admit, Lalo is a handful at times. But hey, he makes Big Tony and Little Sal happy, and that's all that counts right now," Vito told Bruno.
"If you say so," replied Bruno in his blunt manner. The dogs then began to chase each other around, Vito was glad because that meant they use up their energy and maybe take a nap when they got home. When they did get home, that's exactly what the four of them did. Try to imagine, Vito asleep on his favorite chair, Lalo asleep at his feet and Big Tony and Little Sal asleep under his arms.
Later on, the Changs came over to pick up Lalo and bring him back to their apartment. He said good-bye to Vito's dogs in their special canine way.
"Hope he wasn't too much trouble," Becca said as she thanked Vito.
"He weren't no trouble. If anything, he kept my dogs entertained at the park for me," said Vito with a laugh.
After they had dinner, Adelaide was allowed to bring Lalo into her room. Because Sid had him the previous night, it was her turn after all. She gave Lalo and Froggy 2 makeovers and then took their pictures.
"Aw, you two look so pretty together!" she cooed. Lalo was used to this sort of thing. Carlota had given him makeovers and painted his nails for years. Froggy 2 had become accustomed to getting make-up ever since he had officially become part of the Chang family so this wasn't all that new to him either.
"There, now you're on my Instagram, everybody is going to love your new looks!" said Adelaide happily. When it was time for bed, Adelaide made a point to get Lalo's dog bed from the living room. She loved Lalo enough, but hearing from her sister how he took up most of her bed space and woke her up early, she wasn't exactly keen to share her bed with him. She tucked him under his blanket and the roommates went to bed.
Later that night, there was a violent thunderstorm, and Lalo, being a big baby woke Adelaide up by licking her nose. She woke up groggily, she looked into Lalo's eyes, seeing how he silently pleaded for comfort, she heard the lightning outside and remembered how she had often gone into either her sister's bedroom or her parent's bedroom in a similar situation.
"Alright, Lalo, come on in," she said and moved over. Lalo climbed in and practically hugged Adelaide. But his fur was so comfortable, and his embrace was so warm and gentle, Adelaide hugged him back with a smile.
"Now I know how a teddy bear feels," she thought before falling back asleep.