When I made the set of dresses for Adelaide a few weeks back, there was one more made that I didn't show you at the time. She's wearing it in this photo above (where you can see she is my ever faithful stylist and photographer's assistant. Always). It's a shorter version of the sundress, made to be a top, in the most precious of fabric that she and I have been saving for a very long time now. Horses. (It's a Heather Ross design from a few years ago.)
We've been waiting on this fabric for a while....and more importantly, waiting on riding horses until she was 'old enough.' This spring, my nearly five year old (five!! I know!!!) finally hit that mark. So now, once a week, Adelaide spends a blissful hour with a horse she loves, adores, dotes upon, talks about, dreams of, and wears this special shirt for each time she sees him.
Though her "lessons" at this point are all about balance and connection (and will be for quite some time), I can't help but think when I watch her count down the days on the calendar until riding, or caress and talk to the horse the whole time she's riding, or try something new and 'dangerous' on him with so much trust and connection....that this brave and strong animal-loving girl of mine was born ready to ride a horse.
Which is, of course, precisely what she's been telling us too. Forget the pony, she would like a horse. For her fifth birthday, please and thank you. She's been specifically working on her Grammie with near daily phone calls, letters in the mail, and gentle reminders of how lovely it would be if she were just to show up to Adelaide's birthday party with a Palomino in the back of her pickup truck.
And while I'm all for supporting my children's dreams and happily look forward to the day far in the future when I might be able to say 'yes!' to a horse, I also don't want any unrealistic birthday expectations in place. And so, I gently broke the news recently that she shouldn't really expect to see a horse on her birthday this September.
Thankfully, she's a flexible gal, this Lady A of mine. She paused, thought for a moment, and announced that she'll happily keep riding this "borrowed" horse each week. And as a second birthday choice... she'd now like a pet snake.
Oh my.
