Written 1/17/14
This afternoon was another example. He was in a very good mood today, happy and warm. He, like Banker, works to involve us in his world. When he’s happy, he will make efforts to entice us to play, to get happy when we’re focused on something else, to be light-hearted instead of too serious. Today he decided that we should go out and have some fun. So, when I let the dogs out to go potty, he ambled over to the van. His foot has another opening, where he had access to a bump before I realized what he was doing (licking), so he has pain walking. I watched him walk with some pain to the van. I knew where this was headed, that he wanted to go somewhere. Sometimes he wants to go for a ride, sometimes he wants to go swimming, sometimes he wants to see the vet. (fortunately not often, at this point) Jade knew what he was doing, and she sided with Parker; she stayed on the sidewalk instead of coming inside. Banner hasn’t been around long enough to “read the map” yet. This was at around 2 p.m. So, I shut down the laptop, put on some jeans and joined him. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, and I wasn’t about to take him swimming (although Jade has been wanting to go swimming), so I took them to town, dropped off some mail, stopped at Braums for a cheeseburger (to share) and drove around the area where the lake is. I rolled the windows down so they could “smell the air” and tell where we were. I drove to the dock where I used to take him for swims and surveyed the goose presence. It’s supposed to be nearly 60 tomorrow and he will get a bath, so I may let him go into the lake if he wants to, and Jade too. As cold as it is, that won’t last long, but it may pacify them until a better day, and another, until warmer weather arrives.
His requests can be subtle, but clear. His voice is getting weaker, but his heart is still strong, and he will tell you what he’s thinking about sometimes too. He is very patient during the week, but Fridays are “fair game” for creating distractions, subtle or otherwise. His timing is good for the “almost” point, like when the video, or the work week, is “almost” over.
Parker is like a bridge for the other Newfs too. Jade often doesn’t know what to do to communicate when she wants something, and I’ve seen Parker pick up on this, do the communicating for her while she watches him with an expression of remarkable surprise that he knows what to do. So, sometimes when he makes a request, it is on behalf of someone else.
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