Imaginary horses, toy horses, a plush Pony, and a real horse named Dandy 11/17/2006
Adelina is in a horse phase. She loves horses. She has horses from her farm set and very small horses from other sources (I’m not sure from where - I can’t remember). She has a nice size horse (about 11″ tall) she received as a gift from a neighbor (a hand-me-down) that she ignored for the longest time but who now goes in the bath with her as well as into bed most nights. She loves to go around the house pretending to be a horse or to pretend to lead a horse or to be a mommy horse or a baby horse, etc. She pulled out her stick horse (you know the head of a horse on a stick they can pretend to ride around) that had also sat ignored since we bought it many months ago and she discovered it makes horse sounds if you press the ear. It first makes galloping sounds (hooves on cobblestone) and then the horse whinnies and then it snorts. She loves each sound and now knows what they each are, too.
Anyhow, so the other day we are in Target and we are looking at toys to get an idea for what she might want for Christmas. She is much more focused now than last year when she was so overwhelmed by all the toys. Now, she goes straight for anything horse-related. She kept finding a horse toy and acting like she was going to die if I didn’t buy it for her, but I would convince her we were just looking to see what she might get for Christmas. Then, she would move on and, almost immediately, find another horse toy bigger and better than the previous one. We repeated the “I want it now” scenario for several iterations, until we came across the toy that ended the search and made all the previous toys completely unsatisfying: the FurReal Pony interactive pet. Oh my, what an amazing toy. It took a good bit of resolve for me to not buy one right then and there. Of course, I know now that they were probably not even in stock beyond the floor model, but I am still quite proud of myself for getting me and - the much harder task - Adelina - to move away from the Pony. Wow, I can really see now how easy it would be to spoil your child.
Not us - we are going to do one better. No, we aren’t going to buy her a real pony or a real horse - that is unlikely to ever happen. But, we have decided to pay for her to get riding lessons. We found a local lady who does this and already has two students who have cochlear implants. She has a small horse named Dandy that is perfect for kids Adelina’s size and she customizes the lessons to the child’s interest level and attention span. She’ll start after Thanksgiving or the following week. Hopefully I can get pictures to post. So that is something to look forward to.
God, please let this be a phase she will soon outgrow. Horses are an expensive hobby!!
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