I’m writing this on the 17th day of Malachi’s life, but this photo and all the ones below were actually taken on his 12th day. I’m spending so much time with him and Noelle that I’m sorry to say I’m having trouble keeping up with everything else, like photos, newsletters, even email. By the way, all the fantastic photos you’ll see in this journal entry were taken by Kathleen. A big round of applause please :)
The boy is growing so fast we’re afraid to blink, afraid we might miss something. Kathleen has shot an enormous amount of video which I haven’t been able to edit down and get onto the website yet but hope to do so soon. I will drop you a link when it’s up. I think the piece will clearly dramatize how much he’s growing. When he began lying in my lap (on day 3) we were using two bales of straw but you can see below how On Day 13 he’s almost off the far end. Today I had to add a third bale.
Above, the process of lying down begins.
He’s such a good boy. Boy for sure, but a good boy. He wore his first halter on Day 9, was leading in circles and taking a few forward steps by the next day, and on Day 11 he was leading every direction on a loose line. Today we had a stroll outside the “playpen” as Kathleen calls it, being careful to never leave mama’s sight and she actually handled it well with no snotty remarks :).
Kathleen put her foot down and said this boy was not going to wear a pink halter (she ordered blue) so today he finally got to eschew hot pink and take that first walk outside the stall wearing a very handsome marine blue.
Good friend and trick trainer Allen Pogue wouldn’t leave us alone until we built a platform. He uses it to give his babies a quiet safe spot to hang out, always near mama, and in very short order his horses will go to any platform or pedestal on a point or cue and stay right there until asked to go somewhere else. So I finally got out the saw and with a little help built Malachi a platform. He was introduced to it on Day 13 (March 15th), the day these photos were taken. Initially he needed some encouragement, but by the end of the day he was climbing right up on a loose line. He even went up once by himself when my back was turned. I looked back and I swear he was actually beaming with pride. I couldn’t keep myself from laughing out loud.
Note Noelle taking notes on the first picture immediately above. I think I’ve mentioned before that Malachi is so bright I worry about staying ahead of him. Well nothing has changed. Look at the photo below as he takes charge of the “secret” rope that allows me to lure him into the playpen and shut the gate from afar. At least now he will usually come to me to get a rub or a bit of powdered baby ration certainly helps the time expended. The first several days I spent hours sitting in a camping chair with my laptop waiting for him to go into the playpen, without mama, so I could pull the rope that would close the gate.
How does life get better than this :) Now if I can just get this strapping young boy to pass the good word on to his mom. Sorry this got so long but I’m definitely a proud papa.
Joe
