Sandra Boynton’s Barnyard Dance! was one of Emmy’s bedtime book choices last night. I read the words, she did the actions.
Bow to the horse. Bow to the cow. Twirl with the pig if you know how.
(I really need to remember this book for my preschool class when we are doing our farm unit. Emmy was having a ball with the motions! Although I’ll have to explain how to “promenade two by two.” That could be a little dicey with a rug full of four year olds who can’t even sit in a circle.)
When we finished the book, Emmy turned to a page with the bull on it. “What’s that on the cow?” she asked, pointing to the ring in his nose. With my limited farming knowledge, I explained that farmers used that ring to lead a bull around, since a bull can be mean. “That would hurt!” Emmy exclaimed. I said yes, it would, and that was kind of the point.
Emmy proceeded to ask me if a bull would hurt its babies. “Yes,” I said, “that’s why a bull is in its own pen or field, away from the cow and calves.”
Emmy contemplated this information for a minute.
“That’s like Luke and Leia being separated from Darth Vader.” BOOM! Just like that, she generalized her new information with her new obsession with Star Wars. This obsession echos my own obsession when I was about her age. (Okay, I may have been a little older than her in 1977, but not by much.) Emmy’s father, however, was never into Star Wars. When I played Bill Murray’s Star Wars lounge singer act for Emmy, she said, “That’s Daddy!” Yes, Ed does do a passable version of “Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars!” complete with the cheesy lounge singer voice.
Fortunately for us, Ed keeps his shirt buttoned up.
