Most of our childrens' milestones pass by unnoticed - we may mark birthdays, graduations, learning to drive...but what of all the little things? Who remembers that last time you had to tie your child's shoes, before he mastered the skill? The last time she needed you to zipper her coat, or the last bedtime story you read aloud? As our kids grow up, they learn to feed, dress and care for themselves. Most moms can tell you the age each child was potty-trained but have little idea when brushing teeth no longer required assistance. It just happens, and one day they're doing their own laundry and making eggs for breakfast. (At least that's what I've heard!)
It's not that way with goats.
I keep waiting for Em and Ellie to start scooping up their own droppings, refilling the hay buckets or trimming each other's hooves, but so far the only skill they've mastered is what we call "self-weeding." (They used to stand by patches of their preferred weeds and wait for us to pick and hand-feed - but thankfully they've finally figured this one out.) However, there is one milestone we mark with a little bit of sadness, the end of what for many months was our favorite time of day - feeding time on the "bottle swing."
A covered wooden swing outside of the fenced yard, this somehow became the place for morning and afternoon (then only morning) bottles. All Emily and I had to do was hold out the bottles, open a gate, and watch as both goats ran charging to take their places on the swing, Emerson always on the left seat and Ellie on the right. Bottles were the only time they ever used the swing, and afterward they enjoyed staying on our laps or just basking on the benches for a while. After bottles we gave them some "hand-weeding" from the delicious patch of tiger lilies nearby, then they obediently went back to the yard.
It was Emerson being sick that ended it - as he recovered he bottled much slower, and Elliot grew bored of waiting and started wandering off. The weeds dried up with the onset of frost, my husband dumped a load of scrap wood with rusty nails below the swing, and I needed to focus on coaxing Emerson to finish his entire bottle (now containing medication) without worrying about where Ellie had gone. I decided to bottle them on the gated deck, just until the weekend, or just until Thanksgiving break (when Emily would be there to help). At first the goats were confused - they took their bottles on the deck, then when I opened the gate to take them down to the yard, they ran to their places on the swing. More bottles? But now they don't seem to even remember, and it seems better to keep consistent and just never take them back to the swing. It works well to feed them on the deck and nobody can wander off. Why confuse them now?
However, just because they don't miss it, doesn't mean there isn't a little piece of my heart that doesn't yearn for just one more day on the bottle swing...
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