I have two!

Our drive to H's school, though not far from our house, takes us through more rural parts of the area. When we were looking at houses, we were astounded you get live only 8 miles and really be OUT of town. Much different that we have been used to for a long long time.

We take a "back" road that curves a few times to get to the main road on which the school is located. Almost 3/4 of this road follows a pasture. There's nothing in the pasture except a few trees, some bushes, a power station at one end, and on some days cows.

We/I entertain him/ourselves by singing silly songs for all kinds of topics. "Where Are They Cows" has become a favorite morning hit. Some days the request is to "talk" the lyrics but most days I have the ability to freestyle. I'm not sure what melody I'm using for the words but I at least remember to use the same one each time. Most days the lyrics are:
"Where are the cows?"
"Where are the cows?"
"Where are the cows?"
"Are they outside today."

The verses include: "I don't see the cows," "They must be in the barn," and often ending with some version of "They must be napping." We only have a mile or so to really get it all in and it cannot be started until we reach the field and can tell whether the cows are indeed there or not for the morning.
If they cows are out, we'll, we just do a change up to "I see the cows" as the second verse and appropriate alterations thereafter.

Friday we had a first sighting for us here in our new state. On the way home, we indeed saw the cows, they were out and I slowed down so H could see them only to be informed he COULD NOT see them as my freshly dry cleaned jacket was blocking the view. Good intentions.

But, as we slowly made our way around the 90 degree curve, we spotted a new creature. A real live solitary Texas Longhorn grazing peacefully in the pasture across the street!

From an early age, I have tried to give H various physical motions to connect to animals as a way to not only memorize them but to also communicate prior to being able to say the actual names. We have big scissoring arms for alligators, swinging arm held at the nose for an elephant, claw hands for crabs, and splayed fingers held up by our ears for moose and so on. So, H noted the "antlers" on the Longhorn with the appropriate hand motions.

"They are called horns on a cow."
"For?"
"I don't know but male cows have horns not antlers. They are called bulls."
"For?"
"The longhorn has two long horns on either side of his head."

About 30 seconds later I hear "Mom, I have two!" Two? Well, of course there had just been enough time for me to go onto some other subject in my head including watching for people speeding at me the other direction on a rather narrow rural road but I just had to turn and look at him in the back seat.

Another moment for that hidden clothing camera to capture the pure ingenuity and innocence of childhood. H was holding a sippy bottle and a stuffed mouse against his head where his "horns" should be. It nearly cracked me up to see but by jove he got it!