When I was a kid I read a lot of stuff–cereal boxes, books, Highlights magazines, comics, the back of cans, encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. (What do you expect, we didn’t have cable TV or the internet!).
Being that I was the oldest, I felt it was MY responsibility to help out my younger sister and brother when it came to reading too. We loved stories. We loved being read stories. We loved reading stories. I have a firm picture in my head of my sister blanketed in books as she lay sleeping in her bed. I can also hear my brother reciting Just Go To Bed by Mercer Mayer.
From what I can remember, Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman books were pretty solid in our reading rotations as well. I specifically remember Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman being read by the three of us. But instead of saying, “Are you my mother,” we would always jokingly say, “Are you my mudder?”
At times we would also call our mom, “mudder” too. (What do you expect, we didn’t have cable TV, so we found other ways to entertain ourselves!!) But I digress…
The story is about a bird who leaves an egg in her nest, and while she’s gone, the egg hatches. The baby bird falls out of the nest and then goes on an odyssey trying to find its mother. While approaching a number of other animals, the baby bird asks, “Are you my mother?” Each time the response is “No.”
The baby bird eventually gets back in its nest and finally does find it’s mother.
I thought about this book yesterday when we were checking out the cows and calves. One little black bull calf in particular had been given some freedom from his mama and was hanging out with his other buddies.
His mama–who was keeping an eye on him during his allowed freedom–because that’s what good mamas do–called for him.
He walked over to a red cow instead. Her udders must have looked rather appealing to him. He sniffed around for a few seconds before he turned to his real mama and then back to the red cow. He seemed a little confused as to who his mother was. In my mind, the calf was asking, “Are you my mudder?”
As soon as the mama had his full attention, she started to walk away rather quickly as if she were annoyed. She was probably saying in her mind, “For the love of…!!!!!”
Baby bull lagged behind for a few seconds–not wanting to leave his buddies or the other mother. But then, he got a jolt of energy and started chasing after his real mother. “Hey MOM, I was just kidding. Come on, MOM, slow down, I know you’re my mudder!”
I thought it was pretty entertaining and couldn’t help but giggle a little 🙂
Alive & Well in Kansas 