So a friend of mine, due to unfortunate and crappy family drama, is acting as her cousin's guardian while he finishes out this school year, so he doesn't have to move to Texas. This evening was the first time I had met him since he moved in.

Yeah. I am definitely going to the special hell.

(Doesn't have anything to do with horses, which I guess is good.)

(I'm now going to have problems from now until forever with the term "horseplay.")

Er, also -- hooves aren't as common as you'd think, mostly b/c they can be cumbersome and lead to injuries. Fetish-y shoes/boots are more common.

So, regular fetish boots, and not the ones that leave a hoof footprint? (I think those are how I first learned about pony play, back in the day--a boot called the Grand National.)

I suppose one could just use really fuzzy legwarmers.

You know, it's really weird to think that what you consider a really simple task can be perceived as difficult by people who are intelligent and competent at what they do.

I hear that. Everyone has their thing.

Still working on it, myself.

Here's the other conversation I had with Emmett which went from innocence to experience in zero time flat.

As prelude, I'll note that in past conversations Emmett has given me the lowdown on who he has crushes on and who his friends have crushes on.

Me: So, what girls have a crush on you?
Emmett: Brianna. No - she just told me that she didn't have a crush on me after all.
Me: What about Neelia? [Emmett has a crush on Neelia]
Emmett: I don't know. She used to like me in fourth grade.
Me: Did you do something to make her dislike you? Tease her or anything?
Emmett: No! Dad, I hardly even talk to her. I get too nervous. Besides, I think she's got a crush on Kevin.
Me: Well, Kevin's nice.
Emmett: Yeah. Neelia's got a crush on Kevin. I accept that. I accept my rejection.
Me: Oh. Well, that's healthy, I guess. Why do you want to accept your rejection?
Emmett: So I'm not like [EM's crazy psycho ex]. He won't accept his rejection.

Wow.

Emmett: So I'm not like [EM's crazy psycho ex]. He won't accept his rejection.

Yeah. I am definitely going to the special hell.

I feel like ass. Coughing, disgusting ass.

Oh, damn.

Hec, that kind of breaks my heart while also making me feel very proud of your boy. Shit.

I feel like I should be folding laundry (cause I should), but instead am playing with iTunes on the new Powerbook.

Hec, that kind of breaks my heart while also making me feel very proud of your boy. Shit.

Yep. It was a real weird twofer of both of those things. And it totally blindsided me because I was still all "Aww, cute" about him being nervous around Neelia.

Having the baby has created this very real marker and Emmett has sort of pushed himself up into a more mature version of himself. I was still rocking him to sleep after the baby got home, but he decided by himself it was time to stop that. So he just gets in bed now and I go rub his back and sing some lullabies. We didn't talk about it, but it was clearly a gesture like, "I'm not the baby. The baby needs that focus now. I can just go to bed."

Emmett: So I'm not like [EM's crazy psycho ex]. He won't accept his rejection.

Wow.

Yeah.