This past week Kaylee started first grade. These are pictures from her first day. I think she looks tired but she said she had a good day. She chattered on for some time about what she learned already. She really enjoys school. And I'm glad she does. She's a smart little thing and just has such a sweet nature about her. Such a gentle and loving little girl! She's the love of my life.From the moment she learned to crawl I knew this child had something of me in her. She would always make a bee line for any animal that was within sight. I spent many days encouraging her to crawl while making sure she didn't squeeze the cat to death or irritate the dog too much. And I remember being amazed that she wanted to kiss animals right from the start. The only problem was she wasn't very discriminating about where she kissed them. That was another thing I had to keep an eye on and eventually I taught her to kiss them on the head. (she was always aiming for the other end! ha ha)
She has never had any fear of any animal...and this trait in her was so strong that it scared me sometimes. She would automatically head for any animal no matter how large it was, with arms outstretched and eyes lit up. Luckily my dog Allie seemed to understand she was a baby and never resisted her kisses or embraces. Although I did notice that both Allie and Lily (the cat) started to "magically disappear" or would suddenly demonstrate "speed walking" when Kaylee first started to walk. It never phased Kaylee a bit. She was perfectly willing to follow them all day even if she never actually caught up with them.
Even horses..and I mean large horses..never frightened Kaylee in the least. She would automatically hold her arms out to be picked up to pet them, feed them and eventually to ride them. Never showed a lick of fear while being up on the back of a horse.
Trips to farms or petting zoos were sometimes a little nerve racking with Kaylee. Chickens; ducks; goats; even pigs were all her automatic friends and had to be touched and loved by this little girl.
It is my wish that Kaylee will keep her love of animals and become a veterinarian one day. I never had the opportunity to go to school for it myself, so I volunteer at an animal shelter to scratch that itch...the urge to do something to better the lives of animals...to bring a little gentle caring into the lives of animals that don't have it. So when I look at Kaylee and see how she is with animals, I hope she never loses that caring touch and never loses that urge to kiss them on the head. And I can proudly say she gets that from me!
