Nick visited us the second weekend in April, and this time I could see without the clouded judgment of a mother's love that there is an obvious bond between my little boy and his trusted dog. When one of the volunteers brought Nick outside of the gate surrounding the training facility, the minute Ian called his name, Nick's tail started, and his bounce got even bigger. There was not a moment's hesitation when asked to jump into the back of the SUV, and as soon as I closed the back of the truck, he climbed into Ian's seat so that he could sit behind him.
The weekend was fantastic as you can imagine, and once again Ian was asleep by 8:30 and stayed in his room all night. There was no running into our room because of hearing strange noises or asking if we were calling his name, and he didn't do his usual up-and-down-the-stairs ritual either. He slept well, and he was up taking care of his best friend by 7 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday morning.
It was a joy to watch them together, and amazingly our child who can spend hours on the computer spent most of his time playing outside with Nick. They played with the hose, sticks, balls, and they even played some strange game that was a cross between tag and hide-and-seek :-D
Weekend mornings are usually hit-or-miss at our house. The majority of the time Ian will get up about 10 a.m., grab something to drink, and then retreat back into the darkness of his room. It's hard to get him to leave the house, and usually there's a meltdown involved before we go. These can result from even the simplest of things like brushing his teeth to the more complex issue of taking his medication, but there's usually at least one thing that will send him into a tailspin. (As you can see below, he has quite a few medications to take, and he gets frustrated sometimes. Understandable.)
Even though it's better than it was even a year ago, we still have our struggles, but when Nick is here, it's usually much better. For instance, this is what happened the last weekend he was here, and it made me and Sean laugh right along with them.
As you can see, just about everything is a lot brighter with Nick in the house. We are all anxiously awaiting the day we can bring him home for good, and it's only 23 days (and a few dollars) away!!!!
