Over the weekend of amazement we went to the state fair. We saw the pony ride and knowing that she probably wouldn’t go for it I asked Sophia if she wanted to ride on the ponies. She shook her head as I knew she would and we just stood there and watched for a little while. I was admittedly disappointed though not at all surprised. In another area they had a cute “Farmer for a Day” area for the little kids right before the petting area. The activity they had set up was right up Sophia’s OCD-putting-things-into-containers alley but because we were in public, there were no guarantees that she would take to it. It took a little encouragement, but not much.
The first part was to pick out a basket, take it to the hen house and pick an egg, then to the apple tree for an apple, and finally to the sandbox to dig up a potato. There was also a cow milking area where she waited her turn for a while, but ultimately she skipped that. Once the little basket was full, it was time to take it to market and separate her things into the market’s baskets. She then received a stamp on her hand with the animal and color of her choosing. She picked an orange horse.
Directly after that area there was the entrance to the petting area. She showed interest in the animals but didn’t want to touch them at first. She began to take my hand but then switched and chose Kurt to lead around the pen of baby farm animals.
Lately she’s been a little Nazi with her demands for which parent she wants to do whatever task for her like reading her bedtime story. “Momma’s turn, “she’ll say. We accommodate sometimes, but if it was predetermined by the parental units that momma has the night off then it’s tough shit. On this occasion it was, “Daddy’s turn”, which I just thought was great. Kurt later decided that the child figured if anyone could protect her from a rouge baby goat it would be daddy. If that’s the case she would be quite shocked as to what the otherwise animal loving “momma bear” can and would do if her young were attacked. I’m just sayin’.
Controlling little Nazi child took her dad’s arm in both her hands and used it to pet the goats until she was comfortable doing so herself. She also pet the calf, but the chickens and pigs she only looked at.
Once we done with the petting area we went out to wash our hands and then retrieve the stroller, which was waiting for us at the entrance of the “Farmer for a Day” area. Upon seeing the baskets, OCD child had to go through the maze again. I had to go to the bathroom, so Kurt wound up going through there with Sophia another seven times. On their way out Sophia spotted something through another vendor and indicated she wanted to go there. I’m not sure if she said anything since I was still waiting in line for the ladies room, but I know she wouldn’t have had a word for what she wanted other than maybe horse. She wanted to ride the carousel. Kurt was shocked and when I found out, I was stunned. Kurt bought the tickets and Sophia kept pointing at the horses she wanted no ride. Wow, she really wants to do this. On the horse she was so happy, she sat waiting for the ride to begin and pointed to her horse smiling. Kurt’s horse was much smaller, and it made his 6’ 4” figure look hilarious. The carousel began to turn and each time around Kurt pointed me out to Sophia who flashed huge smiles at me. The biggest smiles I received were when the camera was down but I still got a good shot. Unlike her camp photo, no tickling was required for these. I cannot tell you how happy it made us for her to have a normal kid reaction to normal kid fun. There are just no words to express it.
