Dyo-guh

Evan can't drink milk.  It just really doesn't agree with him.  Actually, the same is true for me and for Nathan.  Jonah does okay (not great, just okay) with it now, but when he was Evan's age, he would projectile vomit even the tiniest sip of any kind of milk.

And yet... we have milk goats.  Goooo figure.  And as wonderful and "more-easily-digested" as fresh, raw goat milk is, we can't drink it.

It's pretty much a classic case of lactose-intolerance.  We do fine with the proteins and other things in milk, we just don't have what it takes to digest the main sugar component of the milk.

BUT!  Wonder of wonders, if I get rid of that pesky sugar, we can have all we want, and thrive on it!  So the vast majority of the wonderful milk produced here on Our Little Funny Farm is not consumed in it's basic state.  I make a lot (A LOT!) of very sour yogurt which we all eat daily (Jonah and I love it best with a drizzle of our homemade maple syrup and some fruit or granola.  Evan and Nathan eat it plain.).  I also make several kinds of cheeses, and our cream separator provides AMAZING cream.

I usually drain some of the whey out of the yogurt (Nathan actually drinks the whey, or I use it in baking) to make it thick and creamy-- in the store it's called "greek-style".  I lovelovelove yogurt this way!  It's fantastic and regular yogurt will never again be good enough for me.  Raw goat yogurt is naturally very runny, unless you do something to thicken it, like adding powdered milk or gelatin.  I don't care for those methods, but draining makes it so yummy!

Recently, I stopped spoon-feeding Evan his yogurt, and started giving him un-drained, runny yogurt to drink from a cup.  Unfortunately, spill-proof sippy cups don't seem to work well for yogurt.  So I only give it to him in a drippy-sippy.  This particular cup has Peter Rabbit on it, and used to belong to my little brother, whose name, incidentally, is Peter.

Aaaand of course the yogurt often gets dripped around on my kitchen floor, with great delight (for him) and tooth-gnashing (from me).

Evan is now addicted to this sour drink.  He prefers it warm, but will drink a little cold in a pinch.  Every morning, right when we come downstairs, I --yes, I admit I give in to this-- warm a little in a pan for him to drink.  I'm a softie, and he drinks it better that way.  He sits on the floor and sucks down the whole cup, then asks for more.

Throughout the day, he'll sometimes find the cup and bring it to me.  "Dyo-guh!" he says as he holds out the cup.  Sometimes if I'm busy and don't get it right away, he'll  just take the cup back and try to take a drink.  It seems that he thinks that by mere contact with me, the mommy and source of all nourishment, the cup will be full again.  When he discovers the error of his assumptions, he gets mad and throws the cup and screeches more more, now!

He does love his yogurt, though.  I think his consumption is approaching a quart per day, and he seems to do really well with it, praise God.  His digestion is very much improved lately, but many foods are still a little iffy.  I'm so glad to have all this fresh yogurt for him!

And --this has nothing to do with anything regarding yogurt-- he's just so cute!