Cows and Horses Just Talking

Our family went to the Great Minnesota Get Together yesterday. Also known as the Minnesota State Fair.  Lily won tickets at the library from doing book reports for the summer reading program. It give her such a sense of satisfaction knowing that a day of family fun happened because of her hard work this summer. We left early at 6:45 am to get there for a morning show.  We were all a little sleepy, but it was totally worth it.

Lily wanted to go to the Grandstand and see the vendors. Zach wanted to ride the merry go round. And Lily and Zach both wanted to ride the world largest traveling ferris wheel. A wonder to behold if I do say so myself.  Lily enjoyed cotton candy and pronto pup and an ice cream cone. Zach devoured chicken fingers, an ice cream cone and found sprite from a fountain machine was absolutely amazing.

Both kids have always enjoyed touring the Miracle of Birth Center (baby animals born daily), The Horse Barn, The Cow Barn, and then seeing the goats, sheep, bunnies and chickens.  Yesterday, was no exception.

Zach has always loved horses and cows. And as a sweet 14 year old boy with Autism, he often wants to just look at and talk to cows and horses more so than people. We live in the country but in a neighborhood. There are 3 or 4 farms on the way to speech on Wednesdays. The sheer amazement that Zach has when  he sees the cows at each farm is absolutely fantastic. He screams, "COWS! LOOK AT THEM ALL! WHY ARE THE COWS SO CRAZY? THEY JUST ARE!!!!"  Every. Single. Time. Every time he seems them, this is what he says. As if it is the official cow greeting.

Yesterday, Zach's special greeting was needed. The cow stalls seemed to go for miles and miles. He was in cow heaven. So many cows to talk to. So many cows to greet.  And he couldn't let any of them feel left out. What an amazing interaction he had with this cow. He sat and talked to it forever. The cow never broke eye contact with Zach.

So this morning, when Zach was furiously sorting through all of his toys in two toy bins in the living room and the toy box in the basement, I knew exactly what he was looking for. Every single cow and horse that he loves.  Oh, how I love when I see the interesting configurations of each cluster. As if they are arranged for a conversation. Zach played with nothing else today except for these amazing figurines and of course he spent time drawing and coloring. Horses and Cows. At the Gavin house, we don't stop to smell the roses, we stop to talk to the cows.