Take Your Dallies

He's only seven and we think it's a chore to wake him up to feed his bottle calf. "Okay, okay, okay, okay," he mumbles and keeps sleeping.

His sisters manage to force him up better than I do as his Mom. I think they roll him out of bed whereas I just shake him a bit and talk to him. Maybe I'm too gentle because he's my last child. Maybe I haven't been sure if he's old enough to do this chore. He's even spoiled by the fact that his bottle calf has taken to sleeping on the porch. Our girls have to walk to the pasture or take a quad to find their bottle calves. Fran always has to tackle one wild little calf out on pasture before she feeds it. Afterwards her still hungry calf tries to bump her over. Their language seems to be trampling each other or running from each other. I haven't witnessed it yet but Jeff told me it's a good show. All I see are her dirty clothes and manure filled hands when she gets done. And the smile of accomplishment on her face.

I digress. So once our Tony boy is finally up all he has to do is step out the door and there's his calf. It waits for him each morning and afternoon right by the house. Things should be easy from there. But his calf is heavier than him and shoves him along as he sucks on the bottle and Tony always falls down. The calf steps on him with his hard hooves as he tries to relocate the bottle on the fallen boy. Either Tony laughs or he cries. It depends on whether his face gets slobbered full and how much pain he can handle right then. His only solution is to get back up as fast as possible and put the bottle near the calf's mouth. So our boy takes the medicine, gets back up and feeds the calf.

We've wondered if he was too young. Too small. He's not responsible for his belongings at all and we'd like him to learn. He's a dreamer living in a world of stories and inventions. He struggles with low ego sometimes and next time it's a high unrealistic ego. How can we help him grow up?

He brings the empty bottle back in every time with a smile on his face and acting about an inch taller. Job done. He took the dallies even if his hands got burnt. It seems like responsibility over an animal is helping him focus and feel good about himself.

While he ate breakfast today he said, "Feeding my calf makes me strong."

Watching him grow makes me strong too. I think I'll go sort out the next calf from the pen full that's waiting on me today and start wrestling through my day of work. A little responsibility gives life meaning.