Since my life is just plain awful, horrible, and no good, I have been doomed with a child that insists that we go for a walk together every day. Just the thought of it probably will give you nightmares, and for that I am very sorry (OK, so I love every second of it. I admit it.). Lately I've gotten brave/stupid and started doing walks in our own little neighborhood, instead of going up the road to a walking trail. I'm probably setting my self up for hours of annoying because there are three little playgrounds in our development. I have to weave and dodge and circle back to try to confuse the Toddler when we're walking around because once she figures out how to get to even one of those playgrounds, I'm going to be in BIG trouble.

Past the playgrounds at one end of our development is a miniature little farm, or rather a house that has a bunch of sheep. I have declared it a farm, because if you have a dozen or so sheep and a barn, I think that qualifies as farm. Back in my North Dakota days I wouldn't have considered a place with only one or two acres a farm, but this is Pittsburgh, so I get to change the rules as I see fit. Considering that we can see downtown from our deck, I think it's like there is a little farm in the middle of a metropolis. I'm amused by it.

Today I took Alexis up to the farm for the first time so she could get up and sort of personal with the sheep.

She was floored.

She has known for months that sheep say, "Baa," but she had never actually heard a sheep say, "Baa." I SO wish I had the camera ready when she first heard one of those sheep make noise. It was as if she had discovered that the sheep were in on a secret that she thought only she and the CIA knew about. With eyes as big as dinner plates, she picked her jaw up from the ground and yelled, "MOMMY! SHEEP SAID 'BAA!'"

Even better, though, was as we were walking away. She didn't want to leave, so I had to pull out my usual trick. For whatever reason, if I tell her to say, "Bye-bye" to something, she will leave it willingly (it works for toys, places, just about anything--it's MAGICAL). So, I told her to tell the sheep, "Bye-bye." Just as she waved and yelled, "BYE-BYE SHEEPS!" one of them let out the most perfectly timed series of baas of all time.

"Baa Baa."

Alexis very nearly laid an excited little toddler egg right then and there. She spent the next twenty minutes gushing to me that the sheeps talked to her and that they said, "Bye-bye."

How much do you want to bet that if she ever manages to escape our watchful eyes, she'll run right past those playgrounds and go straight for the sheep?