I thought James knew the difference in appearance between cows and horses and could also correctly match their sounds of moo and neigh until today when he kept neighing whenever he saw the cows. I'm keeping my hopes up that he was actually remembering seeing the donkeys that were with the cows yesterday that he thought were horses. In the above picture he is staring down a cow while I am telling him that they say "moo" not neigh...he looks a bit confused.
This one was taken after they had moved a ways off, before they had been at the fence line.
The "og" James was beyond thrilled to see was discovered on Sunday night when we first arrived at the farm around 8:30pm (way past bedtime). I was carrying James into the house when I almost stepped on a big hoppy toad crossing the sidewalk onto the grass (this would have been very traumatic for me as it would have caused a flashback to when my family moved to NC when I was 15 and the first night we got to our new house when I was just out of the car and headed up the sidewalk into the house- barefoot- I stepped on a small frog squashing off his leg and somehow rolled a bit onto him with my foot causing his innards to pop out of the leg hole...it was AWFUL). Thankfully this time I managed to sidestep around the amphibian and pointed him out to James. It was just light enough for James to see him and he was so excited, scrambling out of my arms to see it closer. Tim came over with his headlamp and shone it on the toad which James just kept excitedly calling an "og" (just as he doesn't really know yet the difference between horses and donkeys he doesn't know toads are different than frogs). We let James crawl after the "og" for a couple of minutes and he came pretty close to catching it, but alas it was time for him to get in bed.
He collapsed asleep around 9pm in his peapod, but by 11:30 just as Tim and I were finally getting into our bed he woke up crying out for me distraught and as I climbed up the stairs to scoop him up and snuggle him I distinctly heard him saying "og, og". Not sure if he had dreamed of the amazing frog before waking up or if he had just remembered it either way the next day as we crossed the same place he kept looking for the og.
He is really loving exploring here. He has already gotten to explore a freshly mown and raked pile of grass, coming out of it with green hands and feet; he has seen a real live working tractor come up the driveway; he has been picking yellow dandelions and a purple pansy (which he tried eating) and has begged for more and more access to the creeks. He is learning to go safely up and down a flight of hardwood stairs and has progressed from going down backwards feet first to sitting on his bottom and scooting down while holding someone's hand. He remembered from the last time we were here that the fireplace and potbellied stove are hot and we don't go near them (this is amazing to me as he wasn't even 14 months the last time). And the thing I think he (and I) are most enjoying is having Tim around all day.


Sounds wonderful, Kate! Glad to hear that you have made it safely and I am jealous of all the exploring you are getting to do with James. Have fun, we miss you!
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