Puddy in Her Hands

Before John and I became parents he would always joke about my spoiled upbringing.  I will admit that I was a very lucky little girl and had a lot of privileges that many would dream of having.  One of things John would rib me about were my horses.  Yea yea, I was one of those little girls who said, "daddy I want a pony" and actually got one.  A real live horse.  As a young child I would ask to go to the Great Falls stables in the evenings to pet and feed carrots to the horses.  My first tooth was lost because I was standing on a fencepost and fell (hitting my chin) when a horse decided she didn't like the little kid pestering her.  I spent much of my childhood and teen years on horseback - trail riding, showing, jumping.  It was a hobby and an outlet for me.  My father still has horses - he fox hunts and his girlfriend plays polo.  It is definitely in our blood. 

The first time I rode a horse was at my 5th birthday party.  My parents called a local pet farm and they brought one of their little Shetlands over so that my friends and I could ride in circles around my backyard.  John says that is where it started so when Kate was born he vowed that she would never ever have a pony at any birthday party.

Until now. 

A few days ago our local library had a pet farm come to their "backyard".  Thankfully, the library is literally a 5 minute walk from our house so my mom and I put the kids in the stroller and went to see the animals.  It was really cute - they had chickens and ducks, a horse, a donkey, two sheep, and two goats.  Kate really took to the pony and donkey - she had absolutely no fear and picked up a brush (without prompting) and began to "clean" the donkey.  My timid, shy baby girl was in love and was a complete natural around them.  I was honestly shocked, but if she is anything like me, she will be asking for a pony in no time.

That night I sent Johnny a few pictures of Kate with the donkey

His response? 

How many ponies does she want?  One for each year that she’s celebrating?  It’ll be challenging once she hits double digits, but I’ll make it happen.

Yup, that's what I thought.  Puddy in her hands.