Post from the hubby:

Bella, our golden-retriever, has been a great dog to us. She was about 4 years old when our monkey came along. We have so many pictures of them together through-out the years, it is quite adorable. However, she is now older, and her age is beginning to become a factor with our very energetic seven year old monkey.

When Harley Quinn, named after the Joker’s girlfriend, came along, I did not know or anticipate the closeness that would become between my son and her. Harley loves to play with our monkey. She is not a companion but a friend to him. In fact, quite often if you are in our back yard, you can see/hear both jumping in the trampoline. Our monkey likes to run around as she chases him trying to knock him down. They engage in wrestling matches until one of them gets tired or annoyed with the other and one walks away.

And although Harley is just 18 months old, she can be quite the guardian of our monkey and our 19-year-old daughter. When we go hiking and one of our kids accidentally trips, Harley will run towards them while whimpering to see if they are okay. When we fill up gas during our drives, she is very protective with anybody getting too close to the car. She indicates with a loud growl or bark when she feels that her love ones are being threatened.

But what makes Harley truly special is when our monkey is having a tantrum or full-blown meltdown. She gets close to the monkey and tries to sit him down while clutching her mouth on his arm without hurting him. Other times she puts herself at-risk of getting a pinch or some form of physical slap. It is as if she wants to help him calm down or at-least go through the motions with him of calming down.

At night, when the medication kicks in, our little one will find the hardest part of our wooden floor to crash, minutes later Harley joins him and falls asleep as well, right next to him. They have a unique friendship and I know our monkey appreciates her as well.

This morning my son and I came back from Burger King with his chicken nuggets. I went upstairs for a couple of minutes and came down to assist him in eating his nuggets (we are trying to get him to use his fork). However, I could not find the nuggets. After a while I noticed that the window was slightly opened, enough to get some nuggets thru the other side. It was evident that Harley was fed by our monkey when I saw ketchup stains on her nose.

With autism, there is never a perfect day, but there are always perfect moments through-out the day.