Alphabet diagnosis'

Alvin has made such progress in the affection department that he is now able to display signs jealousy and compete for attention and affection - not towards me, of course but towards, you guessed it, the lady of the hour, my mom!  As previously discussed, Alvin only has eyes for my mom but now he has become so attached that when Stevie approaches her for attention, Alvin comes running and puts his head in her hand.  She tried to make him wait his turn because he literally nudges her hand and will stretch his neck over Stevie's back to try to be the closest but I told her that I didn't think this needed to be an opportunity to teach Alvin to wait because she is the most important thing in his life and it's okay if he asserts himself.  I can't imagine how important she must be to him in order for him to display any type of assertiveness but he does, in his own peace-loving way.  Stevie's the only one in this house who seems to like me best and she gets plenty of affection and attention without having to distress poor Alvin. 

Yesterday we all went for a walk with my mom and Alvin was often right next to her and when we got too far ahead of her, I would feel a tug on the leash and find him standing still and waiting for her.  When he wasn't trying to be next to my mom, he was busy careening into Stevie.  When Alvin does his loops, he is utterly unaware of his body or poor Stevie and he tends to cut her off over and over again.  His complete oblivion continues to astonish me.  Forget the autism, he clearly has all kinds of OCD, and watching him practically run over Stevie makes me think he is ADHD and from his past, he probably has PTSD.  He seems to suffer from every alphabet diagnosis out there.


Speaking of sedatives, Alvin needs another bath....ugh!  We had one more dose left of his sedative and after grooming him, I just didn't have the heart to put him through a bath too.  I am going to see if I can get a small quantity of sedatives to use during bath and grooming time.  As I previously mentioned, our last attempt when bathing him went far better but I think I have some residual PTSD from the other "episode".  So, if you're keep count at home.  I have PTSD and definitely ADD, while Alvin trumps me with OCD, PTSD, and ADHD.  One more incident and I may be able to even the score with a yet to be determined alphabet diagnosis.  Stay tuned.