Kee-Cock the Killer Bird

Visiting This Is The Place Heritage Park for their "Baby Animal Days" seemed harmless enough; I mean, holding a baby chick, petting a tiny baby lamb, stroking the fur of a soft baby bunny rabbit, and taking a ride on a little pony are safe activities for little ones, wouldn't you say?

Well, Grins would beg to differ. Though he rode a pony by himself last year, this year he wouldn't get near them, even though Angel offered to ride with him! And when I placed a baby chick in his hands (at his request), he quickly pulled his hands back (fortunately I saw this one coming and caught the bird so no baby animals were harmed!!)

But the real danger at the "Baby Animal Farm"?? The "Kee-Cock". Grins has always been fascinated by peacocks - once, at Tracy Aviary, we were lucky enough to watch a mating display with the feathers, dancing, screeching - the whole nine yards. And back then, since he was 18 months old and fearless, he was positively intrigued. So much so, in fact, that we had to pry him away kicking and screaming, for fear he would be attacked. (I don't know whether or not peacocks actually attack, but I assume it is best to leave mating animals alone while they are 'doing their thing'...) Anyhow, there happened to be a couple of peacocks in a cage in the barn, just sitting there, sleeping, or whatever it is they do. There was a female, too; a pea-hen (that's really what they're called, I'm not making it up), nesting. There may have been a squawk or two, but it all seemed pretty peaceful and benign. Until that evening.

Fast forward a few hours to 3 am when I hear Grins SCREAMING bloody murder from his bedroom. This is rare for him; usually he quietly walks into our room and squeezes himself between the Mr. and me without so much as a peep. But the screaming jolted me awake and I was in his room in under a second (give or take), expecting the worst. "What is it, baby?" I asked. "The kee-cock! The kee-cock! It's twying to bite me! The kee-cock!" He was wide awake and sincerely terrified. After a few moments trying to calm him down, he would not be consoled, so I finally dragged him back to bed with me (against my better judgement).

He did fine until the next morning when, upon waking, he said "Mommy, the kee-cock tried to get me last night. Can you go get him?" "Where is he?" I asked. "In my bed" he insisted. "Why don't you come with me and show me?" Against his wishes, I nearly had to force him to come with me into his bedroom and 'show me' the peacock - or rather, that I could show HIM that it had been a figment of his imagination. When we got to his bed, he searched and searched for several moments, and finally conceded, laughing, "I must have thought my blankie was the kee-cock!"

I thought we had put it all behind us until this evening when, as I tucked him into bed, he asked "Can I have a special animal to keep me safe from the kee-cock? An animal that can BITE the kee-cock?!" He finally settled on a very convincing stuffed frog.

Wow. I think I may have to consider taking legal action against This is The Place Heritage Park, for both punitive damages to Grins' psyche as well as lack of sleep on my behalf. (I'm teasing, of course. Hopefully that goes without saying.) But seriously. I can't take this little man anywhere. I just hope his sensitivity will serve him well one day.