E - I - E - I - O

William's first 4th of July. Due to his surgery, we skipped the Baumrucker Family party in Michigan and cleared the calendar, in case he didn't do well. Grandma and Grandpa H came in for moral support/fun (depending on how everything went). Since William was doing great, we decided to have a last minute BBQ for the 4th and make a morning trip to Wagner Farms in Glenview. It's a pretty cool working farm that I've been excited to visit with William, plus it's free. I really thought he would be excited, and he was... As long as the animals made noise. So, chickens and lambs were a hit. Pigs and cows, not so much. Maybe when he's older and has a better attention span.

I have to admit that I did learn something from the farm visit. Not about animals, of course, but about being a parent. We say that we do things because we think the kid is going to love it, but really I think it's because we want to see our kids love doing it. Looking back, I really didn't think William would love the farm, but I so wanted to see him love it. He didn't, but luckily we were just ten minutes from home. I would have been really frustrated if it was a further trip.

Here are the highlights:

"I don't want to be a farmer! Stop trying to put me on this tractor. Geez, I just had surgery."

This baby cow takes his bottle with nearly the same enthusiasm as William. Sometimes I have to pull back with two hands, too.

The look on William's face: "What's that smell??? Kinda smells like my diaper after eating lots of green beans."

And here is his answer... Spooning pigs.

This is about as interested as we could get him, didn't last long.