A toddler born without hands has received a new puppy to help teach her about being different.
Despite being born without hands, two-year-old Ivy McLeod is just like many other children her age, and her mom Vanessa says her favorite thing to do is draw with markers between her toes.
However, because Ivy is so young, she's not yet aware that she is different from her peers, and Vanessa knows that it's only a matter of time before she has to have those difficult conversations.
So, to prepare herself and her daughter for the tumultuous questions that will inevitably arise, Vanessa thought that it would be a great idea to get Ivy a puppy with a similar difference.
Now, she is hoping the puppy will teach her daughter that she's still beautiful, regardless of her disability.
In an interview with CTV News, Vanessa said that she wants to tell her daughter: "You know you were born that way but different is beautiful and this puppy was also born that way and that is also a beautiful thing."
When Vanessa came up with the idea to get a puppy for her daughter, she was worried that she would struggle to find a suitable dog nearby.
However, fate intervened, and the perfect dog just so happened to be available in their Vancouver, British Columbia, neighborhood the very day she started looking.
Vanessa wrote on Instagram: "On April 6th, the day I initially posted... that very same day, a tiny little puppy was born IN OUR CITY with a little lucky fin. If that's not fate, I don't know what is. It's so very clear to us that she is meant to be part of our family.
Ivy's mom went on to explain that the family will have to wait for the puppy to be a little older before welcoming her to the family.
Vanessa said the dog is named Lucky "after the Lucky Fin Project @lucky_fin_project because she has a little lucky fin, just like our Ivy."
(Some of you may remember Nemo's smaller fin being called his 'lucky fin' in the 2003 animated movie Finding Nemo.)
"I love everything that is different about her," Vanessa told CTV, "so I encourage people not to view disabilities as sad or something to be pitied but something to be celebrated."
