A little story for you. I write it, because I have been thinking about it everyday since, and it makes me laugh.
The other day we took the kids to a park area that had a farm with cows, sheep, horse drawn wagons etc. The sheep had the freedom to run freely around the fenced field. There were quite a few in the field near the barn though so we were peering through the fence at them. The Boy loves farm animals. He just loves them. He’s a farmer at heart who happened to be born in the city I think (although, it should be noted, he loves all animals and gets excited by ants or bears).
So we were talking about the sheep, looking at them feeding on the grass, when a bunch of free roaming sheep starting coming back towards the fenced in area and barn from across the field. We moved to end of the fence to greet them, and we figured, if we were lucky, maybe we’d pet them or at least see them really close up.
They came close, but quickly turned around us and eventually made their way into the fenced area. Wow, that was exciting for the Boy, they were pretty close. What fun.
Then we heard a lone Baa. A sad sounding Baa from across the fence. There was a free roaming lamb, white and wooly like any story you could imagine. She was calling, and calling and Baaing (is that even the word?) and making her way down to our side of the fence to get in near the barn. We told the Boy, she must be looking for her mom and will follow the others into the field. Again, we were excited to see them close up again.
The lamb kept making her way towards us, the Baas getting louder. We kept getting closer. Then, as we neared the corner of the fence it happened. The Boy turned the corner as the lamb turned the corner. Are you picturing them colliding? Well, luckily they didn’t (sorry if I set you up for a downer!) But BOTH jumped back, startled by the presence of the other.
What made me laugh so hard was the expression on the lamb’s face, who I was watching at the time. It was as though she was the 2.5 year old toddler of the flock, faced with my toddler and was so started. Her tongue out while saying ‘Baa’ and her eyes were like cartoon eyes that went buggy. She took off into the field. The Boy was fine.
I’ll never forget that sheep. Or it’s expression. She looked just like my son does when he gets startled. Innocent and surprised. The Boy just laughed at it all. I also now enjoy sticking my tongue out while baaing at my son and laughing about it with him.
Ahhh memories.
Okay, so maybe you had to be there. 😉
