Family IX: The weanling child

My weanling child, who's nearly 12, lives at Bent Barrow Farm part of the time. FarmWife is her mother, and FarmHusband is her stepfather, and she has two other parents as well who occasionally come and scratch me on the nose. Her other parents have a big smooshy English lab puppy, which brings the sum total of Mia's mammal pets to 9—one more than any other human resident of Bent Barrow Farm.

When Mia was just three, she told her preschool teacher that she would like to be a marine paleontologist and the next Annie Lennox. Her interests haven't changed much: she still loves marine mammals and the Eurythmics!

Mia is also a tremendous lover of mules, horses, dogs, and platypuses. She enjoys riding mules and horses and playing with dogs, but I don't know what on earth she enjoys doing with platypuses. It seems to me that their poisoned claws would be reason enough to avoid them.

Mia is one of my very best human friends and is the only one, aside from FarmWife, who knows the very best way to rub my ears (and can reach). She is also a terribly good artist, and draws wonderful portraits of my mulishness from time to time. She never overlooks details: the notch in my ear, the subtle shading of my muzzle, and, above all, the overwhelming beauty of me. She writes lovely poetry (sometimes about mules) and would make a very good blogger, I expect. I will have her write another guest post soon. She also sings, plays a bit of cello, and stages dramatic stage productions from time to time. I dare say there are very few people as diversely talented as my weanling human!

Mia is an empathetic and sensitive girl, a nurturing big sister, and a compassionate friend. She likes pitching in at chore time, mucking out the paddock, currying my muddy bits, and scrubbing my troughs. I rather like that about her, and do you know what? She likes me too.

Ears,
FenBar