Piece by Piece

We did return to the horse farm today. Annalee urged that we feed certain of the maned giants apples, and not others. When I was feeding one of the animals that she had identified, she sat in my arm in far more relaxed fashion than yesterday -- or during any other feeding session. As we drove from the stables to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, she asked for pieces of apple herself, which I fed her, one by one, with one hand, while I drove with the other. Her car seat is in a captain's chair behind the front passenger seat, and I've learned how to deliver her pea-sized bits of food without turning my head. So, today she asked for and received about ten such morsels of a Granny Smith apple that I found pretty tart. Eventually, I had a moment where I could look her way and see how things were going. She was finishing her most recent bite, and her entire face was screwed up into a pucker. It turned out I'd missed a whole drama, piece by piece.