Sheep!!!

When you have kids you find yourself saying things like.  "Hey, it's saturday.  Want to go to the petting zoo?"  Then you get all excited about going.  You plan the time and what to bring and if you need a lunch, and talk about all the fun things you will see when you get there.  Somewhere in the middle of that conversation you catch a fragment of what you are saying and it hits you.  Whoa.  Life has really changed. Then you go back to excited about seeing sheep, and chickens, goats and cows on the farm later that day.  And off you go, sippy cup in tow.

It started off with chickens and turkeys.  She was delighted to stare at them through the wire.

We decided to start with her favorites.   I'm not sure why she is so fascinated by poultry but they are by far her favorite.

especially this guy

Nearby there were a few other animals.  After a good time staring at chickens we moved on to the next animal.  It was viscous, terrible, frightening, huge.  A killer.  Just look at it!

Are you terrified.  No.  Me either.  I thought she would get excited about the giant furry dog or some such thing.  Instead she walked up to take a look and it bleated.  Just like that, the sheep went from timid herbivore to viscous monster.  She burst into tears and ran into her dads arms.

We honestly had no idea she would react that way.  She has been so excited about her picture books with farm animals.  We have been practicing animal sounds and she proudly identifies them, smiles and wants to see them over and over.  It seemed like such a great idea, viewing herbivores through a fence.  The ways she chases the cat and dog, I assumed it would be a hit.  I was wrong.  Herbivores are terrifying.  We moved on.  Hoping that a quieter animal might be better.  We tried here.

One little piggy was sleeping, one little piggy was hanging around having a mellow afternoon.  It seemed okay until the pig began a slow wander in our direction.  Clearly an attack maneuver, or possibly a chance to get his ears scratched, we retreated to safety.  We walked for a bit, talking about all the friendly animals, looking at corn and deciding what to do next.  When we came to the next series of pens we decided to try a different tactic.

Meet Clover.

Hi Clover.  Clover was waiting for her turn to be brushed.  Since she had some time to kill she headed for the fence to see if anyone was willing to rub her head.  Turns out many of the nearby kids helped her out.  To prove that she wasn't dangerous us grown ups headed out and gave her a pat behind the ears.  When we came out of our encounter with Clover unscathed, Genevieve started to relax and give the herbivores a chance.  She decided to look, from a distance.

We tried again with the next animal.  Same tactics.  We sent a parent in first to check the danger level.  We found a group of juvenile goats and approached slowly.  Other kids were on hand to demonstrate the goat's happiness at being rubbed.  She got down to look.  A big step.

She trusted it enough to turn her back on it.

Then, it happened.  She touched it.  The quiet brown one.  Not that noisy white one, that one was dangerous.  The quiet brown one was safe and possibly friendly enough to touch.  So she did.

And she was happy.  For good measure we explored one last animal.  They were fantastic.  Her kind of critter.  Small, soft, still and quiet.  Bunny.

At the end of the day we found a way to make farm animals interesting and un-scary.  A triumph all around.

It was time to stop for lunch and a quick stroll through the gardens.

Then we found the perfect playground, just for her.  Stairs.

The old farmhouse is now a place for local weddings and the occasional tour. To her it is a delight of stairs.  For us, a good spot to rest on a park bench and wish we had a cup of sweet tea.

In the end, tired eyes signaled the end of our trip to the farm and time to head home.  She slept the whole way.  I think we will try the farm again this summer.  Next time we will make sure the scary sheep aren't there and the friendly ones are.  Just in case.