Brave Parents

Yes, they actually let me babysit again! For more than an hour or two this time too. Erin and Brian went out for supper and to a movie so it was probably close to five hours that they left me alone with Evan. It went pretty well. We played for a while after Erin and Brian left. I didn't tell him that they were gone this time and didn't let him wave goodbye out the window. I figured that maybe it was best in case that is why he cried last time.

I fed him his baby food. He's quite a slow eater but he did eat it all. Then we played again. We read some books. I think that I enjoyed playing with his toys and reading his books as much or more than Evan did. They are all new to me so I wanted to press all the buttons and see what they all do. Of course Evan made that a bit difficult for me because he would be pressing buttons at the same time as me. He also wanted to eat the books and look at only one page when I wanted to read the whole thing.
We had a bit of an issue with changing the diaper. I was warned Evan has not been very happy about this process lately and he was definitely not happy when I tried to change him either. Luckily he was just wet so I was really quick. I didn't even do his clothes back up until later when he stopped crying and wasn't upset any more. He actually stopped crying almost right away after I took him out of the room and back downstairs but he still wasn't very happy for a while.
Evan fell asleep just as he was finishing his bottle so I took him upstairs and put him in bed. But he woke up on the way and started crying after I put him down. So I held the blanket over his face until he was quiet and still. Then I took the picture that is below.

Just kidding. When I first put him down he grabbed the blanket and covered his head but then started crying almost right away after. I tried to get him to go to sleep on his own a couple of times since that is what he does for Erin but he just wouldn't stay in his crib alone without crying. So I took him back downstairs and sat on the couch and held him. He just lied there in my arms staring at me out of the corner of his eyes for a long time. I talked to him a bit but mostly we just sat there. Finally his eyes started to droop and he fell asleep. I waited until I was sure that he was fast asleep and then took him up to his crib.
So overall is was a good night. No major problems, no crying that lasted longer than a minute or so, and he's still alive.
I have been wanting to give Brig some time off. Or maybe I should say that I've been wanting some time off. Either way I thought that it was a good idea to do so over the next couple of weeks because it has been raining so much and I've been quite busy. But after mentioning at the barn that this was my plan I am thinking that maybe it's not going to happen. Nobody there wants me to give him time off because he behaves better and doesn't goof around and cause problems as much when I have been riding him regularly. I knew that he is better when he gets lots of exercise but I was hoping that no one else had noticed. But they did. So now the guilt that I was already feeling for not riding regularly is worse and I will not be able to take a break without feeling bad. He is getting one week off though or at least most of this week. They leave the horses in their stalls all day sometimes if it's raining lots. Brig has way too much energy to be cooped up in a 10'x12' stall for 40 hours at a time and then to only be turned out in a small paddock. I always turn him out while I clean his stall. He runs around his paddock bucking and rearing and having fun. Today before bringing him back in I put him in the outdoor riding ring and let him run around. He had so much fun. He galloped around and around and bucked tonnes. He actually galloped figure eights around the ring. I didn't think that he was ever going to stop and I actually caught him before he was really ready to stop. He had slowed down to a trot so I walked towards him and called him. He ran straight to me and I thought that he was going to run me right over but he was good and stopped and let me catch him. After I caught him I noticed that he had taken a chunk of skin off of his hock. Actually the skin and hair was hanging in a strip from his hock. I have no idea how he did it but it's an ugly wound. I was watching him the whole time in the ring and didn't see him do anything that would have caused that so I think that maybe he did it in his paddock. I cleaned it up and put some ointment on it. I'm sure that everyone will be talking behind my back now and criticizing my poor care of my horse. That is what horse people in BC do. And of course snobby english people and people that show their horses would definitely disapprove of me allowing my horse to be outside in his paddock alone and running around. Not only was he having fun but he was getting wet! He might die! And then to let him gallop as fast as he wants without trying to stop him and make him calm down and without protective boots on his legs is also very wrong of me. Of course the boots wouldn't have helped the hock injury but nobody will mention that. They will just say that I'm lucky that he didn't hurt the rest of his legs too. Oh well. Let them gossip. I miss Alberta horse people. They always seemed to be better than people here in BC. They are not nearly so snobby and gossipy. I never worried about people talking about me or anyone else at most of the barns I was at. Everyone got along and helped each other out. If someone thought that you were doing something wrong they would nicely say something to you or even just question you to understand what you were doing and why. I need to sell Brig. I'm not enjoying the horse stuff lately. I know that it would be better if I was at a barn that offered full board and had a dressage sized covered riding ring. But I can't find anything around here. The only places that I know of are in the Langley/Cloverdale area. I don't want to be driving all that way every day. Maybe I should just send him to someone for jumping training for a month or two and they can try to sell him. It won't be cheap though to send him somewhere. It will probably cost me about $1000/month. That would be fine if I can be sure that they can sell him for 20 or 30 grand within a couple months but there are never any guarantees. All this because of the stupid rain. I hate the rain. I used to have no problem riding in the rain all year round. Alberta has turned me into a wimp and I don't know how to get used to this awful wetness again. But this doesn't mean that I'll be heading back to Alberta yet. In fact I just bought some new house plants today. It makes me feel like I'm settling in here and won't be leaving (but that doesn't mean that I am, I really still have no idea where I'll end up). I had a credit at the nursery and was quite excited to use it to buy some plants. I've been missing my plants. Of course I think that most or all the plants that I left in Alberta have died. But two of the ones that I bought today were the same kind as ones that I left. I had a weeping fig in Alberta that Sara and I were amazed at how many times we almost killed that thing and then were able to bring it back to life. When I first found Winston he used it as a litter box. It ended up losing most, if not all, of it's leaves. But with some extra care I was able to save it and it grew new leaves and started to do well again. But then someone at Sara's used the tap water to water it. You would think that this would be safe and fine for the plant but the tap water at that house killed plants. Makes you wonder what it was doing to us doesn't it. I actually would rarely drink the water and would buy water instead. Anyway, the tree managed to survive that experience too. But the last time that I went back to Alberta Sara informed me that the tree had finally been exposed to something that it couldn't survive from. I'm not sure if I remember the story correctly but I think that Sara had put it outside and one of the bunnies that was loose on the property had chewed it in half while it was out there. So the tree is gone and now I have bought it's replacement. Hopefully I can take good care of this one.