If Hay is For Horses, Maybe It's Cheaper Than Gas

Margaret got a new bike today for her birthday AND a new horse. If gas prices continue to rise as we all expect them to, we may be relying more and more on the bi-ped and quadra-ped modes of transportation ourselves. The bike is a combination birthday gift from Mom and Dad and Grandma and Granddad Downs. The horse, a rental, is from Grandma. The horse she owns is too flighty for Margaret to ride; the other horse, Curly Sue, whom they rent every summer, is a nice horse but kind of pokey and entry level, perfect for Patricia. Grandma decided Margaret needed something with a little more life but not so lively that she'll be tossed off, which, unfortunately is what happened to Grandma this past fall, resulting in a fall. She broke her pelvis and really screwed up her neck. So, the new horse, whom they are calling "Dexter," and Curly Sue were both picked up today and delivered to the lake. Jack and Margaret went on the journey to Vermont to get the horses with Grandma and Granddad while Patricia, Brigid and I went garage-sale shopping. We picked up a bunch of stuff here and there, and everyone kept their good humor about them. Brigid didn't get a nap in -- her days are always thrown off when she doesn't go to Sibley. And by 6 p.m. she was a bit moody to say the least. She also seemed to be a bit floppy and fell a lot today. She has scrapes on her arms and legs and hit her face during one of her falls. I'm hoping she'll pass out early tonight and get a good night's sleep. She needs to be cheerful tomorrow for Mother's Day.

She's been having wonderful days at Sibley. She's happy to go. She's happy when she's there, and she's happy -- not weepy -- when I arrive to pick her up. She calls out the kids and the teachers by name to say hello or goodbye, and she's made a friend, a little girl named Ava. The two spend a lot of time parallel playing, but they often hold hands on the playground, the teacher said. Brigid calls her "Hava." The teacher also said on the playground, Brigid tends to play with a couple of the toddler girls when they're out there at the same time. They hold hands and play Ring Around the Rosey a lot. I think it's because she has the two older sisters to play with that she seems to gravitate to the older kids.

Her repertoire of songs has increased tremendously, and in addition to the old Middle Ages plague anthem referenced above, she sings the ABC Song, B I N G O, the Itsy Bitsy Spider, the songs from the Winnie the Pooh movie, songs from a Barbie movie they have, and just about anything else she's heard a few times. She'll sing out in tune and hold the notes at the end for as long as they go. She dances about the living room, twirling as well.

Brigid has also entered into a princess phase where she loves anything princess. Every dress is a princess dress, every sweater is a princess sweater. Her shoes are princess shoes. She enjoys princess movies like Cinderella and Enchanted (the songs from which she also sings). I don't remember the other two girls being quite so enchanted themselves by princesses. I have to go through the bins in the attic and see if I can find any of the princess Barbies we collected through the years. She'd probably enjoy them, but I cringe at the thought of having Barbies all over the house again. Maybe if we only produce one or two, and keep the moratorium on them as gifts, we can get away with a minimal number at any one time. You can only take so much of Barbie.