New Pony on the Block

A set of headlights appeared Sunday night as I was wrapping up chores. 

The lights swept over the driveway and disappeared....until they reappeared driving through the lawn!

That was by Carrie's direction. She led a truck hauling the smallest trailer I'd ever seen.

And off hopped one of the smallest ponies I'd ever seen, too!

Indy is our newest boarder. He's 12.5 hands and after being on the road for 14 hours all he wanted to do was go for a roll!

Indy spent his first night on property in the arena. It was too dark to introduce him to the herd and he needs a muzzle when on fresh grass to handle the sugars (Which meant Carrie and I had to weed in and around the arena before he arrived!).

He didn't escape, so he got to meet his new barn mates at breakfast Monday.

Heads came up from chewing when Indy walked in.

Indy got stalled between Ernie and Lane.

He makes the stall look huge!

I made the mistake of calling Indy's pattern cow spots. "Leopard spots," Carrie corrected me.

Honestly, it makes me think "cookies and cream" more than leopard!

Indy's owner, Jess, made sure he was settled Sunday night and then came out 8 AM Monday to see how he was doing before she went to work. Ernie and Indy hit it off and were already grooming each other!

To make room amongst the boys, Eddy got switched to the mares' field a few days before Indy's arrival.

If Eddie thought he'd be in heaven, he was wrong. He went from top of the pecking order to the bottom. Abby didn't want her Eowyn anywhere near him and Eowyn didn't want anyone interrupting her eating either. They've kept him at a distance.

Whereas Ernie is right beside his new bff, Indy!

So far, it's been an easy integration. I took the last picture Monday evening and there's a little foreshadowing about a future post in the background.

Chats with Ryouma

Shane's a social animal, so I was thrilled when Carrie set up an italki account for him.

Italki is a website that connects teachers of different languages to students online. Since Shane's practicing Japanese, Carrie found a native Japanese speaker to talk with once a week for 30 minutes.

Shane had his first chat with Ryouma on a Sunday night.

We've had a total of three lessons so far. Talking with Ryouma counts for Shane's Japanese practice for the day.

So far it's gone okay. I had hoped Shane would know enough to do more basic conversation, but there's a limit to how much someone will learn through grudging acceptance of a chore. It does seem like Shane's ears and voice have been a little trained, because he parrots what Ryouma says. We're hoping the personal connection will motivate Shane intrinsically.  

I'm glad we didn't sign up for one hour time slots. Shane has trouble staying still in his chair for half that! He starts off semi-focused, but by the end!?

Carrie made some onigiri to celebrate as she and Shane watched My Hero Academia this week. It's an easy to make from rice staple in Japanese lunchboxes. 

Carrie told Shane we'd visit Japan one day and it'd be neat if Shane worked with Ryouma for a while and eventually met him in person.

Seeing Shane work with Ryouma has made me contemplate getting a Spanish conversation partner. I read the language well, but with no one to practice with I'm at my own limit. Plus, it'd let me model for Shane that I don't look at his chats as a chore so much as an opportunity. 

Creative Crafting Shane

I found a 'boat' in the bathroom sink the other day.

Then there was a paper car ramp attached to the cat tree.

I love it when Shane gets creative. When he zones in on a project is one of the few times he's quiet! The kid will try to turn reading a book into a read aloud performance!

Lately, Shane's taken an interest in origami. Specifically, paper airplanes.

Some of his projects are kirigami, because he makes cuts with scissors. He needs to work on his crease lines, but Shane made quick gains for a small time investment!

The preferred testing grounds are wherever there's an audience. I've encouraged Shane to throw the planes off the porch, but he'll bang on windows or wait until someone comes out before doing too many test flights!

He's not fond of Loki chasing down his planes, but Loki loves it!

Shane has tried throwing multiple planes at once to up the fun. First they were separate, but then he managed to find some tape.

It sorta worked. Which is still better than I expected.

Shane's ideas came back to ground after the airplane craze. He started turning ziplock bags into 'water bombs' (more expensive water balloons for those without balloons!).

I filmed the unveiling of his new water war weapon: A cardboard tank.

Like I said, I love it when Shane shows his creative side! I do what I can to encourage it. 

Cabinet Cats

 I heard some funny noises the other day and guess what I found? A cat in the cabinets.

It was Tsuki....and she was trapped! Every time she popped her head up, Aria was on it!

Aria eventually moved on and let Tsuki out! 

Another Carrie Project

Carrie and I talked about taking a trip this December, but nothing panned out.

Instead, Carrie said, "If we were willing to spend some money on a trip, what if I were to use some of it on something else instead?"

That something else showed up over the course of three shipments.

The cats love shipments. 

Carrie bought a new kitchen table. 

When we moved out our old table, we brought the porch table inside to use instead. Carrie's had it on her mind to replace it with a "real" table. Not only that, she wanted a special kind of table with me in mind.

Most of it fit together well, but there was one side that required some extra love.

Stop! Hammer Time!

We'd just talked about parallel and being not quite right in class!

The cats played in all of packing materials while Loki watched anxiously. 

I was a little anxious I'd step on a hidden cat!

The table wasn't the biggest, but it was specialized for gaming.

There's a recessed inside to hold components and a topper to turn it into a normal table when not playing.

Shane was absent for the entire install, but he showed up for the finishing touches. He really wanted to help, so I let him take my spot.

The table is smaller than the space. Carrie chose the most economical model, because she's smart with money.

Which opened up a few new possibilities. I suggested that we should move Shane's computer into the kitchen. Hopefully, it would give him a view and give us a view at the same time!

 

Loki's pen was moved into the old spot which got it out of the way.

It took a few days, but we played our first family game on the new table. Shane chose Sheriff of Nottingham! He always likes the voices/acting that Carrie does with the bluffing.

True to form, Carrie destroyed the both of us. I don't think she's lost a game yet!

I'd love to play more family games, but we're normally not in synch. Maybe that will change more now that we have a gaming table? 

Not so far, but it's a nice table! I may set up my LOTR card game and leave it ready under the topper in case I get a hankering to play that.

Sunday Stroll

After church, Shane and I dropped by Dylan and Eli's to go on a walk.

It started with some running and chasing between Eli and Shane. Eli poked, Shane growled, and they were off!

Dylan started off on leash duty with Goldie. 

John took over when we got near the road.

Eli and Shane were still poking and running back and forth a little, but we made it to the crosswalk without losing anyone.

Once we got across the street the kids were free to run without the dads worrying!

We cut across Darden Towe to hit the trail. 

Shane worked to convince Eli to start the trail with a victory roll downhill!

It's a trail we've walked many a time, but that doesn't make it less fun. 

And we had a new final destination in mind. We crossed under 250 and then went up the hill to cross the river.

I nearly threw Shane's walking stick in the river. He was a danger with it! It stuck behind him and he went about unaware of all the close calls he created. He was too busy trying to figure out why we were walking in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go.

Our goal was to cross the street without crossing the street. Once across the river, we went under the bridge again to pop back up on the other side without running across 7 lanes of traffic.

Dylan and Eli made the hike before, so they knew what to expect. Shane started to whine some, but we weren't too far from our destination.

The treat at the end of the trail was Wawa!

John and I took turns paying while the other hung outside with Goldie.

We wandered back to the townhouse afterward for Dylan to talk to Shane about Vesteria on Roblox. 

Kelly was asleep when we arrived. That meant John needed to take the kids to check in on her grandfather, so the boys didn't get too long to veg out (to their dismay!).

It was great to have a social Sunday after Shane's school day ended on a bum note Friday. Shane would love to play Roblox online with Dylan more, but.....Roblox sucks. Yes, I said it. I dislike Roblox greatly. The only thing it has going for it is ease of access. I'm not a Minecraft fan, but it can do some neat things. If I had to pick between Roblox and Minecraft myself, I'd pick Minecraft every single time.

Lane's Story

So who is Lane anyway? He comes to us from Sarah's rescue.

Lane is a 'retired' racehorse.

Apparently a winning one, too!

However, Lane got injured. Then, he was thrown away.

Lane spent months in kill pen auctions before being picked up by a rescue. However, he got injured again not long after. 

Warning! Graphic! Sarah had a picture of the injury. If you don't like meat, I wouldn't recommend clicking.

Bullying

The day after I posted Carrie takes Loki to pick Shane up at school, she didn't. And it was a God-given blessing. Carrie didn't know why she didn't bring him, but it would've been difficult if she had.

Shane came out to the car crying. He said he was being bullied.

It tore at Carrie's heart.

So she parked and went straight inside with Shane to talk to his teacher. 

Shane said that there were a group of girls that continuously bothered him. There was a lot of teasing, but there was also a physical component. Mostly shoving and elbowing. He said got hit in the face by a ball at recess. He said that if he got loud or pushed back he got in trouble rather than them. He was frustrated and didn't know what to do. He said didn't want to "look weak" and tell, or "worry us" by mentioning it at home. He said the girls had threatened him not to tell, as well (Which my reply is, "Guess why? They really don't want you to! It scares them, so they try to stop you!")

Since there weren't any 'major' incidents there wasn't a ton of evidence, but it was clear to everyone Shane was affected and upset. For him to come out to the car crying, that was enough. There was one event over the week that would've been actionable, but Shane destroyed the evidence himself. He'd gotten up from doing some math, wandered away, and when he came back someone had erased his work. Rather than tell or re-do it, he threw the paper away.

So something needed to be done.

Carrie said it was a good conversation with the teacher. She said her "Mama Bear" instincts were roaring, but she had Shane do the talking.

Carrie and I left things up to the teacher over the weekend. Shane was his same happy self, so I don't think things went on for too long.

In some ways, Shane is a natural target. He was "the new kid" in a small pond when we moved to Scottsville and still feels that way sometimes. In general, he loves attention and will do almost anything to get it. He'll happily barge into conversations between friends without listening to anything but the most overt cues. Then he usually doesn't know how to take a joke. He squawks and puts on a big show or gets angry rather than laughing it off or turning it into a game to play along with. He doesn't have experience negotiating sibling drama like most of the other kids (A pro in some ways, but a con here!). 

Monday, Shane came home happy. He said the teacher changed the seating chart and there were no issues.

Tuesday, Shane came home upset. He said someone pushed him in the back, knocked him over, and cut the whole line on the way back from music. Of course, no teacher saw and he didn't tell his classroom teacher until the end of the day when there was no time left for her to address it.

I wrote to the principal and she followed up on Wednesday. She came out to the pickup line and talked with Carrie when she was picking up Shane at the end of the day.

It sounds like things have improved to the point they're manageable. There was one incident where a girl elbowed Shane for not moving out of her way when he was sitting down, but Shane's teacher saw it in the moment and acted. The counselor is supposed to check in and work with Shane on how to negotiate his way through things, as well. I'm writing this a couple of weeks later and there hasn't needed to be a follow-up conference. 

It stabs at your heart to see your child in difficult times, but my prayer is that the challenges teach him and forge him into a stronger man one day. At the least, I hope it will give Shane empathy for anyone else having trouble getting along with their classmates.