neighs

Well, we think we have the horse-fear thing figured out. Maybe. And, of course, Will helped by telling us.

So, we went to our first Rodeo with Pauline and Bryan over the 4th of July, here in Steamboat. We sat quite far away and Will was in awe. Sooo interested and trying to figure it all out. We watched everything and all was well. Went home and he hasn't stopped talking about 'Neighs' since then. Horseys say Neigh, of course.

I think Neigh might actually be his most often used word. That and Bike and Rocky. And Mama and Dada. And shoes. OK, anyway.

So, we went back to the rodeo last weekend after Will begged us for weeks and we talked about it a ton. (Keep in mind that Steamboat is a VERY horse-oriented place. So, on almost all of our bike rides (2-3 per week) Will sees a horse. There are horse statues everywhere as well.) Oh, the day before, we went down to the cowboy shop in town and there is a life-sized plastic horse out front with a saddle on it. So, Matt sat him on it and he said 'No, No, No ALL DONE' repeatedly. Matt held him there gently and encouraged him and taught him more about the horse and the saddle. He eventually stopped asking to get down and it wasn't so bad.

OK, so then we go to the rodeo. Will's eyes were huge at the whole scene. We even got ice cream (rice-rice, in Will speak - with Claw-Claw, chocolate) and sat VERY close this time. Like horses were 8 feet away. The beautiful gals came in carrying the flags and he was pointing and mouth agape. All was fun and good. Then they released the bucking broncos and he went bananas. Crying, yelling, terrified. 'No, No, No, All Done. Car, car, car.' So, we waited it out for one more rider and then left. We continued to talk about it the whole way home and ever since. I told him how happy the horses are to be playing with people. So, now he says 'Neighs. Happy' every time.

We keep talking about it, buying books and telling him about horseys. He is sooo curious and interested, but then gets very spooked. He asks for all the books on neighs all the time. We were doing stickers the other night and I said 'Oh, let's put that little girl on the horsey!' (stickers) He said 'No, No, No'. Hm. so something about riding?!

Went to the Routt County Fair this weekend and we saw lots of animals and he kept asking to see neighs. We saw the neighs and people riding on them and running and he was OK. Nope, riding is not the problem.

So I did what I should have done 2 months ago - I asked him. "Will, why don't you like the rodeo? (he knows that rodeo is where the horseys play and the neighs are just the horseys themselves) Is is because the neighs are scary?"

"No."

"Is it because the people are riding the horseys?"

"no."

"Is it when the people fall off the horseys?"

"Owweee".

'Ohhh, so it hurts the people when they fall off?' YES.

And where this all started was this weekend. Watching ESPN and there was a beer ad where a guy is jumping on a trampoline and falls off and the whole tramp falls on him and he gets hurt. Will was watching and says 'NO, NO, NO!!!' And started crying! Sooo, he is very sensitive about people getting hurt.

Gotta love him. 18 months old.