How do you burn off energy? Especially on a glorious October day? That's a question any Mama asks, but it seems especially important for a spectrum kid.
Just north of town, we have a regional park that is a fully operating farm. The boys love it, and the outing gives plenty of opportunity to run, jump, and explore. Plus, I think it's important for children reared in suburbia to know how we get our food.
(We seem to have driven that point home. We were at the farm last spring at the same time as a bunch of school kids. When we approached the pig enclosure one of my boys yelled, "Hey look, bacon!" -- we received a few odd looks.)
We walk a big loop that's maybe half a mile. Or it's a half mile for the big people and several miles for the little guys running up and down and back and forth. I slow the boys way down as we approach any critters and have been trying to show them how to properly interact with the animals. Today, I was pleased to see how quickly they learned to give hay to the horses from the palms of their hands with their fingers back. Or I was pleased until I saw the sign saying not to feed the horses. Opps. Bad Mommy! Although the lesson wasn't entirely lost -- when I told the boys to quit, I had Samuel read the sign to us so he sees that it applies to everybody.
The boys seem especially intrigued by the hogs; perhaps they admire their freedom to roll in the mud. They also love the chickens, turkeys, and geese. I'm always impressed by the big draft horses and the seasonal changes.
Each visit, the boys find feathers and spend the rest of their outing trying to fly. A hay bale or steps discarded from an exhibit make a perfect launch site.
We will only have another week or so to visit this year. Then the farm will slip into the quiet of winter when only the geese can fly and the boys dream of the coming spring.
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