Kids and Kids

We are settling into our new routine as the keepers of FOUR goats, and everyone is enjoying the chance to witness such extreme cuteness on a daily basis.

Chive's doeling (girl) has officially been named "Lou Lou Unicorn." Lukas really wanted to name one of the baby goats "Lou Lou" after the first goat he ever fell in love with, at age 2 (a goat who belongs to friends of ours), and Araela really wanted to name one of the baby goats "Unicorn" because she just loves unicorns. So we combined the two names for our beautiful little doe (who, purely by coincidence, is all brown except for one white spot, right where her unicorn horn would be!).

Lou Lou Unicorn, 2 days old

The little buckling (boy) has been named "Harvey Milk" because we wanted to think of something PRIDE-related (since the goats' birth kept us from the local Queer Pride Celebration), and Harvey Milk seemed especially fitting since we are raising dairy goats (plus, "Milk" was one of the very few movies Lena and I went to see this past year, and we both loved it). Little Harvey looks a lot like a mini-Chive, with a bit of Petah thrown in (the white band on his side).

Harvey Milk, 2 days old

It is no surprise to me that we (as humans) have chosen to refer to our children by the same name used to refer to young goats: kids. Both types of offspring are curious, energetic, mischievous, adorable and snuggly. And for me, as a mother of twin human kids, the similarities between my own early post-partum days and the first 48 hours with the new goat babies were rather striking.

Witnessing the sibling bond between any two-of-a-kind living creature definitely does increase the sweetness component.

Sleepy Newborns: Lou Lou and Harvey

Sleepy Newborns: Luke and Jaz

That said, doubling the number of babies who need to be fed almost certainly increases the level of nursing difficulty.

A cheerful Lena helps a glaringly grouchy me
to latch babies onto my engorged breasts.

I held Chive still in hopes that she would let her babies
latch on to HER engorged teats.

Eventually, both Chive and I figured it out and nursing became an enjoyable experience.



Because I help many new human mothers who are struggling with breastfeeding their babies, it was actually somewhat of a relief to me to see that other non-human mammals can also have difficulty figuring things out in the beginning. That said, I had to wonder if the fact that Chive comes from a line of bottle-fed goat babies contributed to her initial resistance to nursing, the same way that human mothers who come from families where formula-feeding is the norm sometimes have a harder time at first. I always wonder about how much of breastfeeding should be instinctual, and how much was meant to be learned. Perhaps the same is true for goat nursing.

Similarities aside, there is no question about the fun energy created when human kids and goat kids come together. There is much prancing about, squealing, nibbling and smiling going on at our place these days as these two curious breeds of young ones get to know each other.