Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Wash, Rinse, Repeat = A lot of the same boring routine, not many exciting events outside of SIT, DOWN, STAY, repeat. We've been going on regular outings in public, and Porter has officially started his Teenager Dog Training at The Dog Den, and of course enjoying our weekly Custom Canines training.

Porter has been growing fast, and learning well. He knows his SIT, DOWN, SIT from DOWN, and WAIT... although he performs these flawlessly for me everyday I train him at home... but he is still working on flawless public execution due to all the distractions. As his trainer, I am lucky to have such a smart student. It takes pressure off our already squirrelly home life. Avery has been learning how to communicate "personal space", which has been an amazing hidden gem embedded within this arrangement. When a wiggly licky puppy comes bombarding Avery with his puppy energy, Avery is learning the NO command, and Porter is respecting and listening. Avery also asks Porter to SIT, and WAIT, but Porter doesn't quite understand these commands from a little man. It truly is awesome to see them work with each other, both good occasions and bad occasions.

Yesterday, I got lucky and had a chance to snap a few pictures. Another reason why there hasn't been many updates: I've got my hands full. My favorite part was when a woman at the cash register asked Avery what his doggy's name was, he said "Porter". Another hidden gem, where Avery is provoked to communicate with general public, and he is actually talking and responding, where he normally doesn't speak. Avery has also been doing remarkable on public outings in general... very calm, curious, but stays by Mom or Dad, listens, and no real meltdown tantrums. I can't really express how awesome this is in words.

Avery at Menard's, a local home-improvement store:

Our trip to the grocery store:

Jessica and Porter are bonding more too, Porter is happy as you can tell. He doesn't normally lay with me, maybe because I am a warm person, and he likes cool temperatures... but this past weekend he layed on Jessica for hours, sound asleep. He loves his Momma.

Another favorite note of the past weekend: I had the stroller wheel down on Avery's bike trailer (our frequent morning school transit option). Porter hopped right in and refused to get out, so I let Avery push the stroller gently. All of a sudden Avery jumped in and sat down happily too. Please keep in mind, Avery has hated to share this space in the past. He especially won't sit that close to Porter for that long. One main goal of Avery's current therapy is to socialize with his peers, in close proximity (in a sandbox for example). Since he was thought to have delays in this area back when he was 2 years old, which is what lead to his Autism diagnosis, this is a huge difference from where he started. I can't be more proud of him, he's working really hard to fit in to everyone else's world.

And one last one of Porter's preferred way to sleep...silly puppy.