The Horse

Our friend Carol gave it to Caroline when she was very small. It had a smooth blue plastic body, rugged orange wheels, and blue plastic handles, and over it fitted a cloth cover, held in place with Velcro, that turned it into a horse. It was just the right size for a small child to scoot around on, even one that had not quite mastered walking.

It was a favorite of Caroline's, and when she outgrew it, it was immediately passed on to Sarah. Sarah loved it too. I actually don't remember Iain using it but he's a third child and I don't remember much about him as a toddler. (Someone once told me that when the placenta comes out part of your brain comes with it - I think it's true.)

So yesterday we were cleaning out a storage space and found the horse. I washed the cloth cover and had Sarah clean off the plastic with Windex and paper towels, and looked ready for a new rider. So I took it across the street and gave it to our neighbor Melinda, since we thought Adele was Just the Right Size to enjoy it. Adele was napping then, but her mom thought she would love it, and admired its retro styling. (It's hard for me to characterize things from the early 1990s as "retro" but I guess that is a sign of age.)

Later we saw Melinda and Aaron out for a walk with Adele in the stroller. As predicted, the horse was a hit. I told Melinda that Caroline had said, on learning the horse had been given away, that there was a condition attached to ownership of the horse - it could not be thrown away. When Adele is through with it, it has to be passed along to someone else. Melinda assured us it would be, and we are confident that the horse is in a good home for the next couple of years.