Down on the Farm

One of the hardest adjustments to having a baby in the house again has been getting used to how long it takes to get out of the house these days. We generally need to time our departures so that Vivienne has just eaten and had a diaper change before we head out. Then there’s packing the diaper bag, loading her into the car seat, etc.

I didn’t realize how much easier it is to just pick up and go with a toddler until I had a baby again.

Anyway, over the Labor Day weekend, we had a free morning and we decided to do something fun for Nora. Michael suggested that maybe we should visit a small farm and walk around so that Nora could see the animals. So away we went… like an hour later. But whatever, we made it.

As I was going through Nora’s closet that morning, I realized I hadn’t yet put her overalls on her this year (these are from last year—they still fit!). Overalls aren’t exactly an awesome choice once a kid is potty trained, you know? But I told her that they were special shorts for her to wear to the farm, so she agreed to wear them to please me. :)

We basically had the place to ourselves. We just took our time, going at Nora’s pace from animal to animal and checking things out. Talking to her about the animals, what they eat, counting legs, pointing out parts of the animals. It was fun. And hey, educational, too.

There were signs up all over the place warning people not to feed the animals. But when we were over visiting the goats, one of them came from quite a ways away to “see” us. And once he was there, he started eating fallen leaves off of the ground on his side of the fence. Nora saw this and took it upon herself to shove a leaf from our side, through the fence and let it fall to the ground. Sure enough, the goat came right over and ate it.

*shrug* At that point, I figured that if it was something he could eat on his own on his side of the fence, it was fine for Nora to feed it to him. So we encouraged her to hold it out to him through the fence and let him take it from her hand.

This occupied her for a good 20 minutes, and Mr. Goat was a happy camper. A second goat even trotted over to get in on the action.

After the goats, we made our way back to where our car was parked, but we couldn’t leave without seeing the horses again. And Nora wanted to pet them, too.

(Yes, Vivienne is under the sun hood in that Ergo, ha! She slept the whole time.)