After work yesterday I went over to the equine hospital to meet with the doc who did the MRI on Kaswyn. He told me not to come over there until he called, but I thought "Screw that. They have my horse, so I'm going." When I got there I was told that they just got finished, and that Kaswyn was one of the best horses that they have ever scanned. Of all the scans he only moved on one of them, and it was easy to repeat. They told me that he had to pee right in the middle of the scanning, and he waited as long as he could but then just had to go. So they grabbed a bucket and caught most of it, but he ended up pissing all over the machine. Nice.
Dr. A. took me for a tour of the facility. It's still being built, but it's very nice so far. Then we went into the MRI room and he showed me the magnet and explained how it moves and what they are able to do with it. The magnet weighes 3000 pounds. Egad.
Then he took me over to the computer and went though every single scan with me, which I thought was very cool of him. He explained everything he saw and answered all my questions. The bottom line is this - Kaswyn has a degenerative area in his left navicular bone. This degeneration probably would have happened even if he had never been ridden a day in his life. It's certainly been made worse by his show career, but it's a pretty mild case of degeneration. There is an obvious pocket of inflammation in the bone, and slight roughening of the edge of the bone. Thankfully the deep digital flexor tendon is not hurt. No inflammation, no lesions, no tears or rips. So that's good news. The scans, along with Kaswyn's whole chart up to this point will be sent to Washington University where a team of certified radiologists will go over the scans and decide what they see. Dr. A. said they will give their unbiased opinion of the MRI, and that they might find things that he missed, or interpret some things differently. We'll have those results in 5-7 days
So right now Kaswyn needs to be kept barefoot with his feet wrapped in duct tape to keep them from cracking. When they get the results back, Dr. G., Dr.B., and Dr. A. will all sit down and decide on a course of treatment. This will probably be corrective shoeing to alleviate the pressure on the navicular bone and medication to remove the inflammation. If Kaswyn in rideable or not, and to what degree, all depends on how well he responds to the treatment. If he responds well, then maybe we're back to normal training and showing. If not, then maybe I can just ride for fun. If he is still very lame, then we have to explore other options. Like retirement, or even a neurectomy, where the nerves to the back of his foot are severed so that he cannot feel the pain anymore. That carries it's own host of problems, one of which is injury to the deep digital flexor tendon because the horse can't feel when too much pressure is being applied there.
Right now, I'm back in "wait and see" mode.
It occurs to me that even though this is called Dressage Mom, I have not been able to talk much about dressage. I had hoped to be able to write stories about how we were progressing with our pirouettes, or how a test went at a show, but all I've really done is talk about how I'm dealing with my horse and his lameness. I guess in a 15 year old dressage horse I should expect these kinds of problems. I've known dressage horses younger than Kaswyn that have had more problems. However, I've also known dressage horses who are older who have far fewer, if any, lameness issues.
Regardless of what happens, I'm thankful for every day I have had my horse. Even if we never train and show again, he has given me so much. He's learned everything I've tried to teach him, he's always tried really hard to please me, and he's never been grumpy or mean. He's truly one in a million, and I'm not the only one who thinks that.
I just hope I don't lose my four legged dancing partner. Because he's irreplacable.
Today is the day that my horse goes in for his MRI. I'm nervous about what they are going to find. First off, I hope they can get some good scans of his feet. He will need to stand perfectly still in the machine for 46 minutes for each foot. They will scan both feet so they can compare the left (the ouchie one) with the right (the one that has no pain, and the leg that Dr. B. says is "his only good one at this point". Nice.). The MRI machine is specially made for horses and isn't like the ones they use for people, if it's the same one shown here -
which I think it is. So it's not like they are going to knock my horse out, put him on a bed, and slide him into a gigantic MRI machine. He just needs to stand with his foot in a cuff.
But it's not like you can reason with him and tell him to stand still. Sure, he'll be drugged, but he can't sway or shift his weight or anything. I was told by both Dr. B. and Dr. A. that there will be a team of people there to pet Kaswyn and talk to him to help ensure that he stays still. He only needs two scans, but Dr. A. says that sometimes they get 40 minutes into the 46 minute scan and the horse moves, so they have to start all over. This means that even though they start the process at 1 pm, they might not get clean scans until 6 or 7 at night. Sounds very stressful, especially the longer the horse goes into the scan without moving. I think my horse will be great, but I'm sure most owners think that.
I'll be heading over to the clinic after work today. Hopefully they will be close to done by the time I get there and then I'll be able to go over the scans with Dr.A. The next step will be diagnosis and treatment options. Believe me, I'm ready to get Kaswyn on the road to recovery.
Sunday when Craig and Lily were at the store, they walked down the baby aisle to buy diapers. There was a jar of baby food on the floor that someone had dropped. It was broken and nobody had cleaned it up yet.
Craig said "Look at that mess, Lily. I wonder who did it?"
She looked sweetly at her Daddy and said "It was probably you."
Happy Father's Day Craig. I'm so very lucky to have found such a great husband and father. Even though there are some things about you that drive me crazy.
The dish towels all over the kitchen counters. I know you say you don't like to hang them up because the girls will pull on them and open the fridge or the oven, but how many do you need to use at one time? Six? Seven?
And don't get me started about the pots and pans. Gotta use them all?
When putting the newspaper into the paper bags for recycling, don't you think it would be much easier and efficient to line the papers up the same direction instead of jamming them into the bag in one large crumpled mess, leaving me to sort out later?
These things annoy the crap out of me, but they are a small price to pay for some of the wonderful things you do.
You have probably changed just as many diapers as I have.
You put Lily to bed every night, complete with snack, brushing of teeth, story, and goodnight kisses that end with "Goodnight Lily. Momma and Daddy love you." Of course then you have to kiss Clifford, Elmo, Alien, Chewbacca, and Purple Bear goodnight too, which you do with a smile.
You cook. Much better than I do (even if you use more pots).
You pick up the girls from daycare a few nights a week so that I can ride my horse. And most of the time you cook dinner and feed them too if I'm not home in time (which I'm usually not).
You'll cook a full dinner after the girls and I are in bed so that neither of us have to cook the next night.
You mow the lawn, rake the yard, and do all the other heavy lifting type of stuff because you know that it trashes my back.
You are so wonderful with our girls. You sometimes get them laughing so hard that they both get the hiccups.
And right now you are at the shoppin' store with Lily buying our food for the week. Cause you know I hate going to the store.
You are truly my best friend and partner. Thank you for everything you do, and for giving me the wonderful gifts of Lily and Macey. And for keeping our family working as well as it does. And for so much more that I can't think of right now.
Dr. B came out to see my horse yesterday. I had never met him before, so it was kind of like a blind date. We were "set up" by Dr. G., whom I trust completely, but you just never know. Instead of worrying if he's ugly or smelly like you would on a real blind date, I was wondering if he dumb or dismissive. Fortunately, Dr. B. was great. He was friendly and cheerful, and had already had an intensive meeting with Dr. G. concerning Kaswyn. They went over his file and discussed the x-rays, and Dr. G. told Dr. B. what he thought the courses of treatment should be depending on what we found out.
First Dr.B. examined Kaswyn in the stall, checking all his legs and back. Then he asked to see him walk and trot on the longe line. Immediately he said he saw that Kaswyn was taking a short stride with his left front leg, which we kind of already knew. Then I got on Kaswyn and rode both directions at the walk and trot. He saw the same thing, but also commented that he was short on the left hind as well. Then my trainer hopped on him so that I could watch him trot and Dr.B. could show me what he saw.
Then Dr. B. says "Okay, so now we need to do a nerve block on the left front foot to make sure that he has pain there." The idea being that he'd block the foot, I'd get back on and ride, and we'd either see an improvement if that's where the pain is, or no improvement if not. Usually when you start jabbing needles in horse's legs you want them nice and sleepy, so you give them a shot of tranquilizer first. But since I was going to ride, and since the tranquilizer would make him feel good all over, that wasn't an option. I asked "So, how are you going to do this then?" and he said "We just do it and hope he's good." As in, hope he doesn't try and kill us all when he gets a needle jabbed deep into his ankle.
Horses are big. Most of the time if a vet wants to find out how much a horse weighs they use this measuring tape and measure around their bellies. The tape is marked off with approximate weights. Kaswyn taped at 900 pounds at Dr.G's last time. But when he was at Ohio State Veterinary Hospital for skin testing (another story for another time) they have a huge scale that is built into the floor which weighed him at 1200 pounds. So the tape is off. Anyway, 900 or 1200, that is a lot of animal to deal with if it's pissed. Now, Kaswyn is a wonderful horse, and usually doesn't do anything stupid. But if he were to rear when this guy poked him, I wouldn't blame him.
Dr.B. loaded up the shot. I grabbed Kaswyn's halter. Dr. B. picked up the left front, got the needle ready, looked up at Kaswyn and said "I love ya, buddy" and started stabbing. Kaswyn didn't even move. Didn't jerk his leg, toss his head, swish his tail, nothing. Such a good boy. Then it occured to me that maybe his foot hurt so badly that a little needle stick was nothing. Boy did that make me feel shitty.
So we waited ten minutes for the shots to work, then my trainer hopped on him. Big difference. He was much better up front. Then I hopped on and I could definately feel a big change. I was convinced, as we all were, that the left front is without a doubt causing him pain. We put him away and started discussing what to do next. And here is what Dr.B. says. Of the two problems in the left front - the cyst and the bone spur that's torn away from the navicular bone by the deep digital flexor tendon (which is called an avulsion) - we don't know which one is the cause of the pain. This makes treatment difficult, because if the bone spur is rubbing on the tendon it could be doing damage if the horse is put on medication and worked. The medication would make him feel better, but he would continue to do damage and would evenutally be very lame indeed, possibly irreversibly. Time off would probably help with the cyst if it's active, but would not be necessary if the cyst is not filled with fluid or inflamed. The x-rays don't tell us the status of either problem, they just show that they exist. So the plan is to get an MRI of the foot and go from there. If the bone spur is causing damage or a lesion on the tendon, we might be able to remove the spur and, hopefully, solve the problem. If it looks like it's the cyst causing the pain, he would need stall rest, time off, and medication.
Dr. B. also said that the back and the left hind leg would probably get much better when the left front problem is resolved, but he does suspect that he won't be 100% in either area. He may need to inject the back to help it heal, and inject the hocks again. But we need to deal with the left front first.
So this all sounds like not very good news. But I have to say that I'm okay with it all. At least there is a plan, and the MRI should answer all of our questions about the left front. Until the MRI Kaswyn is getting pain meds and daily walks - no riding and no work. It will be hard on us both, since he does enjoy his work. At least he'll get lots of extra carrots.
If you have something to say, say it to me. Don't be a coward and anonymously post inflammatory comments about me on Craig's site. What's wrong with you anyway? Are you really that miserable that the only way you can get your jollies is to stalk me online and post hateful things on the internet? You must be unhappy. Why else would you hold onto something for 13 years? I wonder what your husband and kids would think of that. How terribly sad.
God sees you. All the time. And to purposefully hurt people is an evil thing. Next time your kids get sick, or something terrible happens to you or your family, maybe it's God's way of punishing you for being so hateful and enjoying it.
So get some balls and comment on THIS. And sign your name, you pathetic sad wretched little bitch. I dare you.
Last Wednesday when I took Kaswyn to the vet, I took the day off of work. Since my appointment was early in the morning and the girls were at day care, I spent the afternoon cleaning the house. Now, I'm not the worlds best housekeeper. I really hate it when things are messy, so the house looks pretty neat most of the time. However, we seem to have areas of the house that are crap magnets. These are little pockets of space that seem to accumulate junk mail, things that need to be put away, broken items that need to be fixed, and just random stuff. Often times we just pile the shit up and see how high it will go before it either falls over or one of us cleans it up in disgust, all the while giving the big stink-eye to the other person as if to say "How could you let it get this bad?"
These things aside, the house appears to be relatively clean. But if you look closely, you'll see something that I try to ignore with every thread of my being. Dust. I hate to dust. Hate it. Dusting to me is like having a sucking chest wound. I'd much rather clean the bathrooms than dust. Or do laundry. I love doing laundry. But dust? Fuck that. It always seems like such a waste of time, because I never feel like I can get it all. Using a dust rag and spray does a crappy job, and even though the vacuum with the dusting attachemnt works better, it's clumsy and hard to maneuver. So I just don't dust. Problem solved!
Last week I was lamenting to my friend Meghan how much I hate to dust. She said she uses those Swiffer dusters. Now I have a history with Swiffer products, and it's not a good one. When we moved into the new house I thought one of the best things I could get for the hallway and kitchen floor would be a Swiffer. And a Swiffer wet to wash the floors with. On the commercials they pick up all the hair and little bits of crud on the floor, so I was sold. Craig, Mr. Doubtypants, assumed that neither wonder invention would work as well as they said it would. Well, he was right. Sure, the Swiffer dry picked up some stuff, but still left cat hair and dirt specks behind. The Swiffer wet is not all that wet, and you have to scrub it on the floor pretty vigorously to remove marks or spilled food. The problem with that is the pole attached to the Swiffer wet head is a flimsy snap-together jobbie that bends dangerously to a little bit of pressure. This means that I sweep the floor with either a broom or the vacuum cleaner, and Craig mops the floor (I don't like mopping either) with a regular old mop.
The house needed dusting, and I was desperate. I stopped by the store on my way home and picked up a pack of those Swiffer dusters. It really looked like another gimmicky piece of crap, but for $7 I thought I'd give it a try. And you know what? If it's a gimmicky piece of crap, then it's the BEST gimmicky piece of crap I ever spent $7 on. Those damn things work great! You know that lame commercial where the woman goes around with her Swiffer duster dusting everything, even her neighbor's house? I turned into that stupid lady, looking for more things to dust. I loathed myself, but could not help it. I was dusting, and it was effortless! Praise be!
Now if they could only make a Swiffer Sock Picker-Upper. It would be Craig's salvation. Or maybe mine.
Yesterday my trainer and I took Kaswyn to the vet. We were not late - if fact, we were 30 minutes early! Dr. G. was the only one there, so he checked us in. He did the typical exam (heatrate, temp, body evaluation, etc.) and then took him outside on the road for the lameness exam. The clinic is on a dead end street so it's no problem to take them out on the road for this part of the evaluation. What they do to check for lameness is they flex test them. Meaning, the assistant holds the horse and the doc holds one leg up in a completely flexed and bent position for about 30 seconds and when he puts it down the assistant trots the horse away from the doc in a straight line. It usually gives an indication of where the problems might be before they start taking x-rays. Also doc did a neuro exam and, thankfully, that came back negative. So no EPM. Whew.
We also had a video of me riding Kaswyn from the day before so doc could see how he went under saddle. The flex tests showed nothing but the video made him suspicious of the left front leg, which is nothing that we have looked at before. We've always focused on the hind end because that's where his movement was off and where he would flex test positive. Fourteen x-rays later revealed two problems with his navicular bone. One is a suspected cyst in the bone, and the other is a small area where part of the bone has been detatched from the main bone by the tendon. None of this sounds very good, but doc said that this may or may not be bothering Kaswyn. So what he wants to have happen is to have a vet come out to the barn and have me ride him and evaluate what I feel. Then the vet will do a nerve block on Kaswyn's front feet and then I will ride him again and see if that fixes the problem. If it does, then we treat the problems that we saw on x-ray. If not, then we still have a mystery.
My concern is that Kaswyn isn't all that lame in front. Maybe he's a little off in the beginning of his work, but mostly he seems to just have no energy and not want to work. Doc said that it's possible that the lethargy and unwillingness to work could come from the pain in the foot. I'm skeptical, but he's the expert in this area.
The next hurdle we have is getting a vet out to the barn to do the nerve block, since Dr.G. does not do farm calls. He asked who we were going to have come out and do it, and we shrugged, since his son is leaving town and we haven't chosen a new vet yet. His son's old partner, Dr. B., still works for the practice and I've heard good things about him, but have been told that he doesn't come out to our part of town for farm visits. Dr. G. said "Dr. B. is great, and I'd like you to use him. He thinks like I do as far as diagnosis, and is a great vet. So here is what I want you to do. Call the practice and tell them you want Dr. B. to come out and see this horse. Then tell them that Dr. B. MUST call me before he goes and sees the horse. I will talk to him and update him on the situation." See, Dr. G. just expanded his business to a large practice which employs his son, Dr. B., and about 4 other vets. So what Dr. G. says goes. Period.
Then I call the practice. I can't get the scheduling people on the phone right away, and they said they'll call me back. No call an hour later, so I call back. They said they'll call me to schedule. With still no call three hours after that, I call again and explain that I have very specific instructions from Dr. G. and I really need to take care of this today. They get me right on the phone with the scheduling lady. She tells me that Dr. B. is at the racetrack all day, every day, and doesn't really have time for farm calls, but that she would talk to his wife who does his schedule and see when he could come out. She said she would call me that evening or tomorrow. Today is tomorrow and still no call yet.
Until Dr. B. comes out, Dr.G. wants me to continue riding my horse because he does not want to change anything so that we can know for sure that the nerve block made him better and not something else, like less work. I feel terrible riding my horse when I suspect that he might be in pain, but giving him pain reliever or time off might screw up this whole thing, so I'm kinda stuck. I just hope that Dr.B. can come out soon and we can get some kind of answer. I also hope that riding him is not going to do more damage. I'm really torn about what to do. I think I'll just ride him lightly and for a short period of time. I'm just too afraid to do more, and I can't push him if I know he might hurting.
Wednesday is the day we take Kaswyn to the vet. Until then I'm just waiting and walking him so as not to hurt him if there is anything wrong with his legs or back or whatever. It's hard to go out to the barn and just walk him around, since he's acting fine and he looks great. Ah well, just one more day.
I'm taking off of work to go to the vet with Kaswyn. I haven't said much about work here, and I don't plan on it. See, I have heard that people have been fired for what they publish on their website. Most notably, Dooce. She's become famous for it, and the whole story even coined the phrase "being dooced", meaning being fired for your website. I don't plan on being dooced, but oh man I could publish some pretty funny stuff here that's work related.
I work in a fertility clinic. It's very gratifying to be able to make people's dreams come true by helping them have babies. It's very stressful work, but on the whole I really enjoy my job. Much more than I liked my previous job, which was doing scientific research at Case Western Reserve University. This job has the typical drama of any workplace, but also has the added excitement of including sexual content. Can't have babies without some sort of sex. So there are many situations here that make us laugh. There are also those "oh that's GROSS!" situations that aren't funny at the time, but are funny later when you're trying to entertain your co-workers. So you won't be hearing anything about my work. Which is a pity, but necessary.
I just got a call from Craig. He asked me when I was going to update my site. It's really amusing to me that he says this, because it used to always be me asking him to update his site. At first he had his panties in a bit of a twist about this blog, saying "Don't steal all the funny stories about the girls for YOUR site", to which I just laughed. Now if one of the girls does something funny we'll look at each other and say "You gonna blog that?". Oh, and we do this thing where we are fake mean to each other. I know, it sounds weird, but we act like we're pissed and sarcastic (out of earshot of the girls, cause we don't want them to think we're fightin'), and the other day during one of those sessions I let out a big "Kiss my ass! Go blog THAT!". Trust me, it's funny.
The new barn is, simply put, wonderful. It's a 12 stall barn with an attached arena, observation room/lounge/kitchen, 5 large grass pastures, 2 all weather turn-outs, and an outdoor arena with all weather footing. All the stalls have dutch doors that look out onto the back lawn, which is bordered by woods. Every time I walk in the barn my horse is looking outside. When he sees me, he whinnies and sticks his head over the door. He seems very happy there.
All is not well with Kaswyn, however. Last Friday when I rode him he felt a little lazy. I figured that he was just having a bad day, so I gave him Sunday off and rode him Monday. On Monday, he was worse. I looked at the calendar and saw that he was due for his Legend shot (an intravenous injection which helps reduce any inflammation in his joints, given monthly), which I had left at home. So on Tuesday I gave him his Legend shot and just walked him around outside. I gave him Wednesday off to give the Legend some time to work. Then we moved to the new barn on Thursday. I decided to ride him Thursday just to see how he felt. He felt better but still a little lazy. I couldn't tell really what was going on, because since we were at a new barn my horse thought that maybe he was at a show, so he was a little more perky. Friday really told the tale. I warmed up at the trot, then asked for the canter. My horse was already breathing kinda hard, and his canter strides were lazy and four-beat. I did one circle and then quit.
Something is going on, but I'm not sure what. I've treated and eliminated many possible causes. Here is what I know -
His hocks x-ray completely clean. He has small bone chips (very common) in both rear pasterns which probably don't bother him. I had him stomach scoped and he has no ulcers. I had his teeth done in March. I had his back adjusted by the chiropracter in March. I had several massage sessions done. His left pastern was injected around the joint with steroids. His hocks were injected with hyaluronic acid. His white and red blood cell count is low. He is not lame when I ride him - he just has low energy.
Mosly, my horse "just doesn't feel right." I know that sounds dumb, and not a very good description of whats going on, but it's the best I can do. He's not acting like my horse usually does. Usually my horse has a great work ethic and will try really hard for me. Sure, he gets lazy, but I usually don't have to push him every stride when I ride, which is what's happening now.
So I need to have the vet look at him. Sounds simple, right? WRONG! Here's the story with that mess - Dr. B.G. is Kaswyn's vet. He is fabulous. He takes his time, will explain everything to you, and has a great personality with the horses. After he injected Kaswyn's pastern, he said if that didn't solve the problem that he'd want to inject the hocks next, since he thought that it might be time even though the x-rays were clean. I really wanted to have his stomach scoped and eliminate that as a problem before I went into the hocks. Dr. B.G. does not have the right scope for that, but I know that Dr. A. does. So I called him and he scoped Kaswyn. He found nothing, but based on Kaswyn's past problems he also suggested injecting the hocks. So since Dr. A. was there, I had him inject the hocks. He also ran bloods on him and found the low white and red counts.
What I really want to do is call Dr. B.G. and have him come out and look at Kaswyn again. That can't happen because he's moving. TO MONTANA. And he's booked until he leaves. Fortunately, his father, Dr. R.G. is also a vet, and he's one of the best lameness vets in the country. I consulted with B.G., who talked to me on his cell phone for over 30 minutes. He told me to take my horse to R.G. and have a lameness exam and possibly a neurological exam. Dr. R.G. has seen Kaswyn a few times before to do all the x-rays, so this is no big deal.
What scares me is the neuro exam. We need to do this to rule out EPM. Of course I'm in a panic that my horse might have it. Both vets think it's extremely unlikely, but want to do the testing if his lameness exam shows nothing. Obviously I want to get my horse seen as soon as possible, but Dr. R.G. has a clinic and doesn't make barn calls so we're going to need to take Kaswyn to him.
Getting an appointment wasn't easy because he's booked for almost 2 weeks, but I actually got to speak with Dr. R.G to make my appointment. I told him the whole story and about what Dr. B.G. recommended, and I think that since Kaswyn is a patient of his son's he squeezed us in. His exact words about the appointment were, "I'm going to tell you one thing, and it's very important. I am putting you into an already impossible schedule. If you are late it screws me royally. Do not be late."
I promised him we would not be late. And we won't be.
Lily and Macey are 18 months apart, which I think is really great. Lily was too young when Macey came along to really get jealous of her new sister, so there was minimal upheaval when she arrived. For many months Macey wasn't mobile so she didn't bother her sister at all. Of course now Macey is walking, and has been crawling for months, which means she can get into her sister's toys. When she first started to crawl, Macey would wander over, select whatever toy looked most delicious, and shove it in her mouth. Lily would casually walk over and take it away from Macey, and of course the screaming would start. We told Lily that if she took a toy away from her sister that she must give her something else to play with. This worked very well in the beginning because Macey didn't care what she was chewing on. Lily is very smart and eager to please, so she went along with the "replace the toy" rule. Of course now that Macey is getting older, the switcheroo doesn't always work. You can see her thinking "Look, Sis. If I wanted the gingerbread man I would have grabbed it instead of the Sponge Bob Squarepants!".
So the other night Macey was playing in the office while Craig was on the computer and I was doing dishes. Lily was playing in the family room, but came into the office to see what was going on. She saw Macey playing with the lamb Pez dispenser and took it from her. Now, Lily has ignored this toy pretty much since she got it at Easter, but seeing Macey with it obviously reminded her of the six magical minutes she played with the toy weeks ago. Craig told her not to take it away from Macey, who was now crying and pretty pissed off. Lily ran into the family room and came back with something else for Macey to play with - Craig's dirty socks.
Here's the story with the socks. Every evening when Craig gets home from work he goes upstairs and changes his clothes. No big deal there. But later in the evening, for some reason, he takes his socks off and leaves them in the family room. There they will sit, on the floor, nestled next to the couch, until I pick them up and put them in the laundry. After a few days, if I don't pick them up he gets a whole stinky sock jamboree going on.
Lily presented her sister with the socks, which Macey batted out of the way and continued to cry and reach in vain for the Pez dispenser. Craig said "Lily! Give that back to her!". Lily looked down at her hands - in one hand the glory of the Lamby Pez, and in the other, handful o' sock stink. She looked at Craig, tiled her head to the side, held up the socks and said "Give these to her?" Two and a half years old and she's already playing dumb and acting innocent to get her way. How did we raise such a manipulative child?
Sheri Israel is Dressage Mom. I'm a wife and mother struggling with health issues. I don't ride anymore. And I'm not sure what my horse future looks like. Stay tuned...
