Mother Duck

Kori woke up early from her nap, extremely unhappy.  After a bottle, she was still unsettled, so I decided to take her out on the dock to look at the water.  It is 68 degrees outside in January after all. As we walked toward the lake, I saw a black and white duck with rosy red cheeks flop into the water. As soon as I said, "Look, Kori, a duck!" I noticed six little fluffy ducklings flop in right behind her. Four dark (females?), 2 bright yellow (males?).  We walked out and sat on the dock, watching the ducks from less than 10 yards away.  The mother would show them how to do something, then the ducks would do the same. She would lead them to a new spot, and they would explore about with their beaks. SUPER cute.  Kori was really inthralled for about 2 minutes.  After that, she was more interested in the concrete rocks, brown grass, and litter.   I wondered as I watched those little ducks which ones were screaming, "but moooooooooooooooooom..." and which ones were saying, "I told you she did it this way," etc.  But then they all seemed to be silent. Never questioning, never worrying about whether there was a predator lurking in the water, never complaining, never trailing behind.  They just simply trusted her. And they worked. And they obeyed. And they were content, never lacking in anything.