When I was a little girl, I used to ride my bike all the time. My best friend and I would spend hours biking up and down the street in front of our homes. I was fine going uphill and downhill, but I had trouble judging whether the bike was fully stopped. I often thought I had stopped moving before the bike was fully stationary and that resulted in me falling to the side. Many of those bike rides ended with scraped knees and my friend would help me hobble back to the house where my brother would help pick off all the bits of road around my fresh wound before covering it with the 6 or so bandaids it would take to keep the whole thing from weeping down my tanned legs. I was clumsy and it happened way more often than I should admit. I still have scars on both knees. But my parents never told me that I shouldn't ride a bike because I kept falling off. They knew I loved riding despite my own clumsiness. My brother never complained about being the person who had to help me. My family encouraged me to keep practicing and I would often get right back on the bike the day after I fell off. My best friend wouldn't even ask me if I needed a break because I always went back. At home, we have memory foam mats on our floors for Baby Corn. But even though I do my best keep him safe at home, I don't stop him from having a little bit of adventure outside of the home. He is allowed to walk on the slippery floors of my parents' house. He is able to walk on uneven grass and the dirt pathways of a cemetery. And when the opportunity came up for him to walk on cobblestone for the first time, he approached it with intrepidity. Baby Corn is allowed to fall while doing something he loves, just as how I was allowed to fall while biking. More than ever, he surprises me with how much he can do. The other day, I saw him jump and land on all 4 legs. I took several beautiful videos of his walk in the cemetery in Paris. When I posted the last one, some people saw him for the first time and wondered why I wasn't intervening more or why I don't give him a wheelchair. Baby Corn's brain affects his movements, but it also houses his braveness and curiosity. I can't make his cerebellum develop more, but because he was so mentally behind when he was little, I knew that he would benefit from being exposed to more things. Neuroplasticity is beautiful and being able to help a kitten who was so dull become a cat who is so adventurous is so rewarding. Baby Corn has grown more stable because we don't stop him from falling. He's had the opportunity to learn how to get from point A to B in the way that is most effective for him and falling over has always been part of that learning process. If I always intervened or I prevented him from being able to develop the muscles or skills to compensate, Baby Corn probably wouldn't be as strong today. He's come a long way from the beginning. Yes, he bumps his head sometimes, but he gets back up and keeps going. P.S. I don't think he blinks during this entire video #babycorncat #cerebellarhypoplasia #wobblycat #dwarfcat #cat — @whiskstowhiskersのTikTok