Chapter 20: First Christmas

Sean may have spoke his first word on his birthday but that wasn't his first growth accomplishment. He was rolling over before four months, scooting before five months, and crawling before six months. Crawling became an issue because Sean was fast and fearless. The three days between his six month birthday and Christmas saw another change. He began teething.

Everyone knows what a tooth ache feels like. Especially annoying are the tooth aches that are just below the threshold of actual pain. Everyone felt Sean's unease as his new teeth made their presence known and Sean chewed on anything he could get his mouth around.

Martha put a stop to Seth and Udit leaving the baby in the corral unattended the day after his birthday. She looked out the kitchen window and saw Sean chewing on Rib Eye's hoof. The massive bull stood patiently with one hoof cocked so the edge was available to the baby. Sean tried vainly to position his head to hit just the right place on his gums.

"Seth," Martha called as she marched out the door. "Get Sean out of the corral," she ordered.

Seth hurried out of the barn anxiously looking for where the trouble was coming on. He had grabbed the rifle as he came through the door. "What's wrong," he yelled as he levered a shell into the breach.

"Sean's chewing on Rib Eye's hoof. That's what's wrong," she yelled back angrily. "I know he's safe from most things when the animals are close by, but that doesn't make him immune to unsanitary conditions."

"How'd he get out here anyway?" Seth asked.

"I don't know," Martha answered angrily. "I thought you left him out here like Udit does sometime. He was playing with Queen. Maybe she showed him the dog door. If so, we'll never be able to keep up with him."

Seth stopped and watched because Martha didn't wait for him to go to Sean. She opened the gate before walking into the corral muttering to herself. She roughly pushed Hamburger with her hip until he moved out of her way so she could reach Rib Eye and pick up the baby. She left the corral murmuring to Sean and running her fingers over his gums.

Udit walked out of the barn to stand beside Seth. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Seth quickly explained Martha's concerns and suspicion about the dog door.

Udit nodded with a frown and said, "Sean will be a hard one to keep track of. You're going to have to talk to him and convince him that he should work with you on that little task. It will be interesting to see how it works out."

Seth smiled as he watched Martha exploring the baby's mouth as she walked towards the house. "She's probably trying to see if there's any dirt in there too," Seth said with a smile. He remembered all the battles they had with the two bulls over the years and the methods they had tried to keep control of them. Comparing all those battles to Martha rudely shoving one big brute out of the way with her hip and calmly, or relatively calmly, picking a baby up from under the feet of the other caused his smile to grow.

Seth clapped the old Indian on the shoulder and said, "It will be interesting indeed my friend. And I'll enjoy every minute of it."

That evening, Seth and Martha sat down with Sean to explain why it was important to not wander off by himself.

"Sean," Martha said. "We have a couple of problems and we need you to help us fix them."

"What's wong Momma?" Sean asked.

Sean's vocabulary grew remarkably over the last couple of days too. His pronunciation for some words were hampered by the lack of teeth but everyone could tell what the words were. Most babies have a limited attention span when learning new skills, like talking. Sean was only distracted when something more pressing occurred. More important things like Storm needing comforting.

"Do you mean 'What's wrong'," Martha asked enunciating slowly.

Sean nodded and asked, "Wh, wh, what's wra, wrong Momma?"

Martha nodded before preparing to continue. She had worked out this method of helping Sean pronounce his words correctly. Most parents would coo and laugh at their babies mispronunciations of words. Martha, as a school teacher, believed in treating the spoken word with respect. Laughing at mispronounced words were the wrong way to encourage a child. Encouraging correct pronunciation was the right way to encourage a child. She also knew that Sean was capable of saying the words right. All he needed was the help to learn how to say it right.

"Remember today when I brought you in from the corral?" Martha asked Sean.

Sean nodded and said, "eeth." He paused in thought for a moment then said, " Teeth hurt. Pay with Ibeye. Ibeye let me use his foot to feel better.

"Play with Rib Eye," Martha enunciated automatically.

"Play with Rib Eye," Sean slowly repeated dutifully.

Seth smiled to himself. Sean was following two different processes at six months. He was focusing on learning to speak correctly and following the content of the conversation. He wasn't sure if he could have done as well at six years but was sure he couldn't have at six months.

Martha nodded again and said, "Sean, there are two different things wrong with you being outside with Rib Eye this morning."

"Ibeye ... Rib Eye wouldn't hurt me," Sean said with a puzzled look on his face. "ib ... Rib Eye would protect me."

"I know dear," Martha agreed. "There's nothing wrong with playing with Rib Eye or Hamburger or any of the animals. But, there are some things that Rib Eye and the other animals can't protect you from."

Sean's expression grew even more puzzled and he asked, "Ike ... Like what Momma."

It was Martha's turn to look perplexed. How does a person explain the concept of germs to a six month old? Even a six month old as exceptional as Sean needed some experience to base their knowledge on.

Seth decided it was time for him to contribute to the conversation. "Sean, which is bigger, Prince or Queen?" he asked.

Sean looked at him even more puzzled. "Aren't we talking about Rib Eye?" he thought to himself. He may not be able to pronounce the words correctly with his mouth but they worked just fine in his head. "Prince is bigger, Papa," Sean said aloud.

Seth nodded with approval and asked, "And which is smaller; Queen or the cats?"

"The ats ... Cats," Sean said still puzzled.

"And which are smaller; cats or ants?" Seth asked.

"Ants," Sean said confidently, but still puzzled.

Seth nodded again and said, "Sean, there are other animals that are smaller than the ants. They are so small that you can't even see them. There are a lot of different kinds of animals that are so small we can't see them. In general we call them germs. The mares are all horses and there are a couple of different breeds but we still call them all horses. Germs are kind of like that."

Sean looked totally confused now and he looked it. Momma was talking about things that Rib Eye couldn't protect him from and Papa was talking about things he couldn't see. He glanced back and forth between them for a moment and decided they were talking about two different and unrelated things. Momma's conversation was obviously more important because it was about safety.

"Is something bigger than Ib ... Rib Eye going to hurt me?" he asked Martha.

"No dear," Martha said with a smile. "But, those little animals you can't see that your Papa was talking about can hurt you and even kill you. They're called germs."

"They can't Ite me, bite me," Sean assured her. He understood the mechanics of biting. Queen showed him that biting required opening the jaws enough to encompass the target.

"Yes they can Sean," Martha said. "They can bite you and make you very sick if they get inside you. They can bite you on the inside of you."

Sean looked down at his body. His little jeans and shirt covered most of his body. Booties that looked like moccasins covered his feet. Sean had taken an immediate dislike to shoes with hard soles.

"How can they get in me?" Sean asked in consternation.

"There are some already in you," Martha said. At Sean's look of alarm she continued hurriedly. "There are good germs and bad germs Sean. You have good germs in you and they help keep you healthy. We don't want you to get bad germs in you because they can kill the germs that keep you healthy."

Seth and Martha watched the play of emotions across Sean's face and he wrestled with the concept of good germs and bad germs. Finally Sean asked, "How the bad erms get in me?" Sean asked.

"How DO the bad GERMS get in me?" Martha corrected.

"How do the bad erm ... Germs get in me?" Sean repeated dutifully.

Martha nodded in approval and said, "Bad germs can get in you through your mouth or eyes or ears. If you cut yourself they can get in through the cut too."

Sean glanced at his bottle of milk that was prepared for him. Martha said, "We cook and prepare our food so it doesn't have any of the bad germs. We wash our plates, glasses and silverware so they don't have bad germs on them. We wash our hands so that any bad germs on them are washed off."

Sean tried to integrate all the information they gave him but it still didn't quite make sense. He understood, sort of, about germs being able to hurt him. He understood, in a way, how they could get inside him. He still didn't understand what any of this had to do with Rib Eye. His eyes widened as he thought he made the connection between the conversations.

"Is Ib Eye sick? Will Ib Eye die?" Sean asked as he started squirming in alarm. "Elp Iib Eye," he said anxiously.

"Rib Eye is fine Sean," Martha said hurriedly. She didn't even try to correct his speech. "Rib Eye isn't sick but he might have germs on his feet that could make you sick. Do you ever see Rib Eye licking his hooves?" She asked.

Sean stopped and thought a minute then said, "No. Can we wash Ib ... Rib Eye's feet?"

"No Sean," Seth answered. "We don't need to wash Rib Eye's feet. The germs won't make Rib Eye sick. They might make babies sick that chew on them though. If babies chewed on Hamburger's feet they might get sick too. And Prince's feet and his mares feet. We don't need to wash any of their feet, ah, hooves. We just need you to not chew on them."

Suddenly it clicked for Sean and he understood what this whole conversation was about. He sure wished his Momma and Papa wouldn't beat around the bush so often. Many of their conversations were like this and he sometimes got frustrated with them.

"Don't ew on feet," Sean said in summation.

"Don't CHEW on feet," Martha corrected.

"Don't chew on feet," Sean repeated satisfied. He looked around to see if he could spot any of these germs they were talking about.

"The other thing we wanted to talk to you about is you going outside without us knowing about it," Seth said. "Today you were playing in the house and you went outside without your Momma knowing about it."

Sean nodded and said, "I play with Queen and Ib, Rib Eye help my teeth."

"I understand Sean. The problem is, we didn't know that you were outside," Seth said. "Remember, the Brujo is still out there. What if he attacked and we weren't there to protect you? What if there was a fire and we didn't know where you were? If the house caught fire, we could think you were still in the house. One of us could be killed looking for you because we didn't know where you were."

Martha understood the troubled look on Sean's face. Her bond with the baby was almost uncanny. She seemed to know what he needed and wanted. She knew what he was feeling as sure as she knew what she felt herself. "Honey," she said gently. "We need to know where you are for your protection and ours. Just knowing where you are can avoid the dangers that your Papa talked about. Can you understand that?"

"Yes momma," Sean said before leaning over and wrapping his arms around her neck.

Martha had been reading to Sean since he arrived at the ranch but during the Christmas holidays, she focused on Christmas stories for him. She got upset with Udit when she overheard him explaining to Sean how the Christians had usurped older holidays for their own. Her conversation with Sean and Udit on the subject didn't go the way she expected.

"You can't tell him that, Udit," Martha protested.

"Why not?" Udit asked. "Would you prefer that I lie to him?"

"Well, of course not," Martha sputtered. "But you can't tell him that."

Sean glanced back and forth between two of his favorite people and asked, "Why did they take the holidays?"

"Because they didn't know what date Jesus was really born on," Udit explained patiently. "The Christians wanted to celebrate his birthday but didn't know when to celebrate it. The Winter Solstice festival was a celebration of the beginning of a new year. The Christians viewed Jesus' birth as a new beginning so they decided the Winter Solstice festival would be a good time to celebrate his birth too. Over time, people stopped celebrating the Winter Solstice and just celebrated the birth of Jesus. I think they decided it was a happier celebration than just celebrating the start of a new year."