If something bad happens, I am the person who will show up. I will hug the hell out of you and I won’t leave until you are ready for me to go. I will take your phone call 24/7. When you are crying, I will hand you a tissue and deny that you are a hot mess but instead say how lovely you are with swollen eyes.
But I am also the person who will insist that guide you to move forward. When I’m hugging you, I will say ‘we will get through this’. When you call at 3 in the morning I will suggest we brainstorm on ideas how it can be made better. As I hand you the tissue, I will try to make you laugh. I believe that life is meant to be lived in a forward trajectory. I’m sure I can be annoying at times.
It’s no different with the boys. Jake’s legs slide into a jazz split every ten minutes. I don’t say ‘poor baby’, I say ‘carpet’ and then I guide him to carpet so he starts to learn that he has more traction there. Also, steps, cause him tremendous trepidation. I get it. But him doing steps is good for him, it works his upper body and it forces his brain to use all it’s juice to will those back legs to move. In fact, going up the steps is when his legs work best. So I could carry him, but instead, I stand at the bottom and I tell him he can do it. And if it takes 10 minutes for him to get going, well then it’s ten minutes well spent on my guy.
And when he’s going up the steps, he inspires the hell out of me. You got this Jake!
This makes my heart happy. 🙂
You make our heart happy!
“You got this.”
<3
You get it!
Love! And I love how Melvin waited at the landing for him – just in case he needed moral support 🙂
Every single time Melvin waits. It’s a tale we call ‘Love on the Landing’.
I need to take a page out of your book! Sometimes I’m the first one to “help” Lainey when her legs just aren’t quite cooperating. I need to learn to stand back, give her time and remind her “You got this”! Thank you
It’s not always easy, but I can confirm it’s better for them to find out what they can and can’t do then for us to decide without having them try. YOU’VE got this!!!
Go Jake Go! I love your support 🙂
Love it!!! You are such a good mama!!
I love this video – Jake is amazing! And I love Melvin’s little stubby tail wiggling at the end when you’re saying, “Good job!” 🙂
Jake’s amazing. You’re amazing. We love you!
Can I just say, you’re awesome.
What a beautiful life you’re making for Jake and Melvin! I just found your blog, and it speaks to my heart. So… after reading this particular post where you mention Jake doing the “jazz split” I felt compelled to tell you about something that may help. I volunteer for a wonderful organization that saves and improves lives of homeless senior dogs (greymuzzle.org), and one of the vets on our advisory board developed a product called “ToeGrips” that may make a big difference for Jake. Here’s a story about the vet (http://www.greymuzzle.org/Grey-Matters/January-2015/Improving-Canine-Mobility-An-Interview-with-Dr-J.aspx). About halfway down the page you’ll read about ToeGrips. They seem to be working wonders for older dogs and special needs dogs! Warmest wishes to you and the boys!
We love solutions, trying these out for sure!!! Thank you so much! We also love us some grey muzzles! Thank you for reading along, have a great week.