Our local activity farm is one of our favourite days out. The very nature of a farm means that there is always something new or different to see, which means it’s always an interesting trip.

Yesterday, we were lucky enough to be able to see a brand new litter of piglets. They were less than 24 hours old. My daughter was captivated. She’s not usually one for watching animals for any length of time. Her usual approach is to wander over, announce what animal it is, and then say goodbye to it and move on! So I was struck by how taken she was with the piglets, but I can’t exactly blame her… they were adorable!!

When we first went to take a look, the mother sow was up and about, and the piglets were having a nose around too. The farmer who was watching at the time said it was the first time she’d been up and about since giving birth. We then watched as she sniffed out her placenta from where it was buried in the straw, and ate it. My daughter asked if she could feed the piglets (she’d just bottle fed a baby goat). We had a chat about what babies eat, and she spotted the sow’s nipples, and was a bit disappointed she wasn’t going to get to see the piglets nursing. We revisited the sty later and were able to watch them feeding while their mum slept.

My daughter kept saying she wished she could take one of the piglets home, and the farmer pointed out that they would grow up to be big pigs, like the sow. My daughter’s response to that was that she’d just bring it back when it got big! I love that she was able to give a reasoned (if not entirely reasonable!) answer to a stranger, and was able to follow through on her idea (taking the piglet home), and adapt it to include new information (the piglet growing). It seems like such a small exchange in her day, but on closer inspection, there was a whole lot going on in that dialogue, both socially and on an intellectual level, that even a few months ago, would not have happened.

We also got the opportunity to stroke a week old baby goat, and watch it trying to latch onto its mother who was on the move at the time! And we saw a heavily pregnant goat too.

All this talk of babies has gone in. I was cooking dinner when we got home, when I heard my daughter chatting in the next room. I peeked in, and she was playing with two shells. She had put the smaller shell inside the larger one, and was commentating “the baby shell is in the mummy shell’s tummy”. The “baby” shell then fell out of the “mummy” (if only it were so easy!), it was given a name (Biddy), and the two shells proceeded to have little adventures and chats, throughout all of which the mother / child relationship was maintained by their speech and actions. It was both fascinating and adorable to see how my daughter characterises that mother / child relationship, and also to watch her understanding of pregnancy and birth begin to develop.

I, for one, am very much looking forward to returning and exploring the changes in the piglets and kids (and no doubt cooing over the newest additions!) in the not too distant future.