G appears to have overcome her temporary fear of the animals in the park and is back to chasing pigeons (and getting annoyed when they won't let her stroke them), waving at squirrels and waving her arms around while she communes with nature.
R is still wary but G is working on that. Whenever an animal gets too close and R shows signs of distress, G grabs her hand and leads her closer to the creature, rather than away from it. I think she's working on the aversion therapy principle! They trot off together, hand in hand, chatting away to each other.
G, generally the gentler of the two, is great at reading R's moods and dealing with them. She knows when to confront her sister and when to leave R to it. They fight (boy do they fight at times!) but when one of them is in genuine distress, the other one will try and help them out. The 'helping' can be a bit heavy-handed sometimes - an intended (we hope) pat on the head becomes a clonk round the ear - but the intent seems to be kind.
Our late afternoon jaunt to the Park was far more enjoyable today and Nature Girl and her slightly nervous sidekick had a great time trying to feed leaves to the pigeons. Note to self: take bread next time!
