Old MacDonald had a farmzoo

It was Family Fun Day at the Farm. The weather was suitable to spend the afternoon in the open fields. We decided to go.

As soon as I uttered the word "farm" infront of JR, she broke into a steady recital of the JR version of Old MacDonald, jumped up and down and began naming all the animals she was going to see there. Of course there was there the ducks, the cows, the chickens, the pigs, the dog, the cat and the lion, the tiger, the monkey, the panda bear and the zebra! JR has a little bit of a zoo/farm dichotomy confusion going on! But it was cute. And while we tried to explain to her which belong where, she wouldn't have any of it. After all, she does see cows and chicken and pigs at the petting farm at the Zoo so in her mind, and correctly so under certain conditions, all the above cohabitated in our destination.

Unfortunately, the only animals she did see that afternoon were the chickens. That, however, did not deter her from having a wonderful time. She dug and raked, pushed and rode the wagon, looked for bees and polinated flowers and plants, and got "face painting" on her arms ~ twice. The first time she got in line for her drawing she asked for the "itsy bitsy pider"; we convinced her that a strawberry was more "fitting." She seemed happy with her berry for the first part of the afternoon. But when it was time to go home, she insisted on "face painting" again, so we took her back down there. And, what did she ask for? "Itsy bitsy pider, please!" The girl knows what she wants; she wants a "pider" and was not going to leave without one! So laughingly the lady at the table made JR one extra happy toddler. "I am not going to wash them when I get home Mama," she made sure to tell me, and showed off her "pider" to anyone who would look!

For me, though, the best part of the visit was watching her creative mind work on the onions to turn them into drum sticks. And with that she sang her made-up song and drummed to the beat. When her solo was over she decided to "sample" the onion and proceeded to bite straight into the raw specimen. I cannot tell you how proud I am to have a daughter who eats onions, and not just at the farm. This girl just loves the onions in my sauteed salad so I was not taken a back when she lifted that produce to her mouth. But of course we had to stop her before it actually hit her mouth, after all that onion was a drum stick just a few moments ago.