We’re home.
Coco is healthy. She’s back to normal, now. Her head tilt is gone. Her eyes are steady. Maybe she stumbles here and there ever so slightly, but then again, she always did. She was always a bit clumsy.
It was really, really nice visiting our friends this weekend, spending time with Ashika, and her getting used to the dogs. She was absolutely obsessed with them. Wanted to be with them all the time.
I loved growing up with a dog. Merle was his name. A big, sweet german shepherd. He was my shadow. He followed me around everywhere. I remember crawling into his dog house with him and eating his food while he ate. He was so patient with me, in retrospect. I’ve never been afraid of dogs because of him, I think. He taught me how to be around them, what their body language meant, how they smelled and when they liked to do. He died when I was really young. Like…3 or 4. But I do remember him very clearly.
Cooper and Coco were so good with Ashika. Very patient. And she was so good with them, too! She’d push them every once in a while, usually because she wanted to walk past them, but most of the time she was very gentle, too. Mostly, she just wanted to look at them. Follow them around. Laugh at the fact that they were stuffed animals that moved.
Such a precious age. She’s almost 18 months, I think. Just about. Just learning to talk. She just started walking. Very curious. Very silly. Surprisingly independent sometimes. Like, yesterday she just went into her baby bunker all on her own and was in there for like 10-15 minutes just playing by herself. I was like that. I played a lot by myself when I was young. I think that’s why I’ve always done okay on my own for short periods of time. I crave the quiet, alone time every so often.
It was just a really nice trip. Exhausted. Worried right now about whether I’ll get up on time, whether I can get back to writing now that the trip is done and Coco is doing better.
Wish me luck. Going to set myself goals and a schedule, and then just see what happens.
Night!