Busy boy!

Dempsey has been a very busy boy these past few days. Yesterday, we picked him up from his brother Hudson's house, where had spent the last five days. Today, his sister Angel is visiting. And tomorrow, he will be heading on a road trip to Ohio with his sister Bailey. (Bailey says: "Step sister, thank you. I am not related to him.")

Though we were only away from Dempsey a few days, we really missed him. We visited a pet store, looked at doggie blogs, and thought about him pretty much constantly. We're also seeing the world differently now, thanks to Dempsey. We had never noticed how thoughtlessly many things are built for people with disabilities. The elevators at the Baltimore Convention Center, for example, are spaced far apart, and you need to take two different elevators to get from the bottom floor to the top. We also saw curbs that didn't have ramps for wheelchairs, as well as ramps that had angles more appropriate for a ski jump. We'd never noticed these barriers before, but now we see them everywhere.

While we were busy thinking of Dempsey, he was busy growing up! He went to two Little League games and visited a farmer's market -- both new experiences for him! And, in only 5 days, he has learned two new cues: "bell" (ringing a bell for attention), and "push" (pushing a drawer closed with his nose). Dempsey thanks Hudson's parents for doing such a great job taking care of him!

Hudson's parents said that one very cute thing Dempsey and Hudson did was respond to cues in unison. With Angel here today, I thought I'd try to get a video of a synchronized "sit." Here's what I got:

Ok, we're not quite ready yet for prime time. But look out, Corky St. Clair!