Leah and the cow

I decided that this blog should hold stuff I'd like to record before the lore gets lost. I may change my mind, but here's the story of Leah and the cow, which happened almost 20 years ago:

Leah and the cow:
Like most kids, Leah learned "what does a (animal) say?" from picture books. So conversations would happen like this one:
Parent: "What does a cat say?"
Leah: "meow"
Parent: "What does a duck say?"
Leah: "quack, quack"
Parent: "What does a cow say?"
Leah: "moo"

One day we took Leah to a farm that was open to the public. This was partly for us and partly for her; we were interested in seeing the stuff they do on "real" farms, and there was a little petting zoo for Leah, who was in a stroller. There were cows in the pasture on the other side of the fence. Cows aren't petting zoo animals and Leah wanted to see them, so we took her over to the fence to see the cows. One obligingly ambled over. We said, "Ooh, Leah, look! It's a cow! What does a cow say?" With perfect timing, the cow told us, in no uncertain terms, exactly what it is that a cow says. She wanted to be absolutely certain we'd never forget, so she did this loudly. Emphatically. With lots of overtones. Right on the other side of the fence. I think my yarmulke flew off from the force of her declaration.

Naturally, Leah went into hysterics. (We almost did, too.) Quick thinking Daddy picked himself up off the ground and wheeled her away, saying, "See? See? A cow says 'moo'! See, Leah?"... and so on, until she calmed down.

A few days later, at Grandma's house:
Grandma: "What does a dog say?"
Leah: "woof, woof"
Grandma: "What does a pig say?"
Leah: "oink, oink"
Grandma: "What does a cow say?"
Leah, at the top of her lungs, loud and long: "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

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