Time's a flyin'. We just finished up Halloween. You were adorable, dressed as a cowboy and you were so excited to say "trick or treat" that you practiced for 2 weeks. I went to two houses with you, but Dad says you said thank you to every single person and even tried giving candy to a few of them. I tried to make sure you had a great "1st" Halloween. We went to the pumpkin patch and you made an Elmo pumpkin, which you have to greet and say goodbye too whenever we leave the house. I had my surgery 2 weeks before Halloween, so we never did get to making the haunted gingerbread house. I think I'm going to just save it, buy some Christmas colored things, and we'll make it for Thanksgiving. Nana got married, you were the best man. Everyone thought you were the cutest thing ever. You did really well standing still, though we had to cut pictures short because you started crying. There was a dog that was there, he got really scared after someone hit him. You lost your mind, "the dog is scared momma!" It was so sad, but it was sweet too. The only way we could finally calm you down was to convince you that the dog ran to play with the others, though I never saw him again that night. Apparently, the owners are quite rough and not very nice to their animals. Which brings me to lesson 24.
You already seem to have a good grasp on empathy for others, even animals. Animals are just that. Animals. Some are dumb, some are stupid, some are mean as hell, others are angels. There is a huge difference between disciplining an animal and abusing it. Never hit an animal out of meanness. Maybe a swat on the hip if they're being to rough or such, but never beat an animal. They don't know better. Always remember that animals are defenseless, domesticated animals depend on humans to care for them. Never take advantage of that. A hurt animal can be dangerous, so never try to help one without knowing what to do, and if possible calling someone who's a professional. I'll never understand people who think it's ok to beat an animal just because they're not humans. They have feelings, they are capable of having pain. While I don't agree with all of the things PETA fights for, (ok, MOST) I do agree that you should be kind to them. A person's character can be judged by how they treat the weakest of animals. Except snakes. They're still evil. ;)
