Life Imitates Art. So Do Chickens.

Like I've talked about before, not every kid exposed to farm animals automatically ends up loving them.  With others, that love seems to be an organic part of their makeup.  Interest in animals grows almost hydroponically, subsisting on nothing more than air and water.  Given the tiniest bit of nourishment, that interest will flourish and take root.  That's how I was with horses.

My point is this: Beep is definitely in the right home.  That's a good thing, because we're not letting her go anywhere.  Her love of animals is inherent within her nature, and we are nurturing it like crazy.  She loves all the animals.  I mean L.O.V.E.S. them. 

Her favorite book right now (aside from Goodnight Moon) is Old MacDonald.

Instead of reading the words or (godhelpme) singing the song every night, on each page we make the sounds each animal makes. 

The horses are always a big hit.

And the kid can seriously throw down a hee haw.  I'm not even joking.  That part comes from Cabbage.

The big finish in the book comes from Old MacDonald going to sleep, happily surrounded by all his animals.  Including a cow in an armchair. (???)

Somewhere in the middle are the chickens, so there we practice our bokbokbokbok, cockadoodledoo, and chickchickchickchick.

Life imitates art, even on the ranch.  Beep learned that when we stopped by our local feed store and she was astonished to find chickens there, bokbokboking to themselves.

The store's resident rooster was fascinating, too.

Old MacDonald now has even more relevancy. 

What do you think?  Do you love your hobbies or lifestyle because of your upbringing, or because you developed your own interests?  Did your child love animals from day one?  When do we need to enroll Beep in 4-H and how long does it take to build a chicken coop?  What do I do if she never wants to read another book and I end up bokbokboking to her every night until she's seven?