Calves join boys in adorable photo shoot

CHILHOWIE, Virginia (KTRK) -- As a child, learning how to use the bathroom all on your own is a milestone. And when Ashley Gilley's 3-year-old got the potty training down, his reward was a baby cow.

"My son had been asking for a cow for a long time," Gilley said.

So she got 3-year-old Warren exactly what he wanted.

"Warren was having trouble potty training, so we decided to give him something to work for by reminding him that if kept trying, he would get a baby calf," Gilley said.

Gilley said Warren made it five days in a row with no accidents.

"Let's go get a calf now," Warren told his mother after he jumped off the potty one day.

Gilley, who is a professional photographer, decided to put a photo shoot together partly to celebrate Warren's potty training journey and the fact that she needed six month photos for her other son, WyLee.

She got their two calves, Moon Pie and Norma, and her sons and took them to their barn.

The calves had been bottle fed, so they were full and relaxed for the photo shoot.

"I take a lot of photos but photographing these sweet babies of mine is always my favorite. They melt my heart," she said.

The photos show WyLee sitting on a blanket loving on one of the calves, even giving each other smooches and hugs.

Warren is photographed walking the other calf, but at one point during the photo shoot, he needed to take a bathroom break. He turned around and let it go. Of course his mother had to capture that moment.

"He had to pee and he was done," Gilley said.

Gilley shared the pictures on Facebook on May 12 and has received overwhelming responses from people who not only love them, but from those wanting similar photos taken of their children.

So far, the photos have been shared more than 190,000 times.

"I am blown away," Gilley said. "I kept saying to people, 'What is so special about these photos? It is just my boys with their calves.' But everyone kept reminding me that not everyone is used to being around farm animals like her children were."

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