It's A Girl!

I woke up early this morning to take Julio to school, and as always I went to the window to see if there was rain towards Cochabamba. But as I looked out over the park, something wasn’t quite right. I had to count again. One. Two. THREE. Three cows. Last night there had only been TWO.

I got dressed quickly and ran downstairs. A little baby cow lay sleeping near her mom. I called Humberto to let him know, and he promised to come right away with a vet. As I watched, the vacita (little cow) stood up for the first time. She started her search for milk, but unfortunately began at her mom’s neck…a long way from the udder! She did eventually find it. Soon, the boys came swarming downstairs for breakfast and spotted the baby too. She was quite the show. She was also very friendly and let everyone gather around and pet her. I started asking the boys for names. Several got voted down, but eventually someone said “Kassandra” and no one had a problem with that. I decided to keep going with it, and asked for a name for the middle cow, who 6 months into her life at the BLC still was nameless. Amanda was chosen.

The boys have a million questions about the baby, and I’ve had to do a lot of explaining about simple things. Why doesn’t she walk well. Why can’t she eat grass. Why doesn’t she know where to get milk? Is she a boy or a girl (the drying umbilical cord was enough to convince most of them that she was a boy). Throughout the day all of the staff have come to sit with her too. We are all happy to welcome her to the family!