Had to share the Bird Story!

After our recent move about 50 minutes away from our previous place of residence, lil'daddy and I are getting used to our new routines. We have taken up an art class in addition to our normal gym class. While we have looked at classes closer to our new home, we have become attached to the teachers/leaders at our original class location. Our going to class now involves a 40-45 minute drive, which is OK because we get to visit Auntie Kristin and have a yummy lunch which includes a double-tall sugar-free non-fat latte for big daddy. :) Having added another class has got us trying to rearrange our class schedule to find a productive happy class time for lil'daddy while keeping a good nap schedule. ...so we've been bouncing around catching different classes and different times... (What does this have to do with a bird you ask?)

Last week, I arrived 15 minutes early for what I thought was an 11:15 class. Lil'daddy fell asleep on the way and woke up happily as I was carrying him in. Then it dawned on me the class was at 3:45 not 11:15. I botched the whole productive time - routine building effort for the day! We took it in stride. Despite it being on the chilly side (preventing us from going to one of the parks in the area) we made out alright. We took an early but long lunch, had dessert at Starbuck's, visited a learning store chock-full of games, toys and books. We rode escalators and elevators and identified trucks, buses, cars and airplanes. We sang songs and danced, walked and ran. lil'daddy was having a great day. With almost 5 hours to kill from 11 till 3:45, lil'daddy was having a ball. We had done all this, climbed back into the car to go to class and till managed to have at least 1 1/2 hr to go. (Should this post have been labeled a day in the life...? What about the birds?)

Out of our routine and running out of ideas for things to do that don't involve too far a drive, we decide to visit Bird Jungle. I had never been there but there's birds! How could we not have fun! There's a couple other shops to explore as well. Let's go... (here come the birds) As we start to climb out of the car, the phone rings. Ahhh, my cousin with whom I've been playing phone tag with all week... "How's it going... blah blah blah ...the girls? yadda yadda..." Lil'daddy in arms we march in through the double doors. As I survey the goods this purveyor has assembled from all parts of the globe into his 15' wide x 25' high x very long shop, I flash back to my childhood when I was attacked - divebombed - by a mommy bluebird. She was trying to keep me from closing the distance to her nest - a nest which at the time I didn't know the direction of but which must have been very close. Then there was the thought of retaliation for the time as a child I shot down a tiny finch mid-flight with my daisy pump-action bb-rifle. I look at lil'daddy, who's eyes are full of awe and I calmly say into my phone, "I'm in Bird Jungle... can I call you back". None of these birds were in cages.

Now, it sounds like this is going to be a horror story. While pressing END, re-holstering my cellphone and surveying the high ceilings for an exotic multicolored divebombing birds with tattoos saying "death from above", that is exactly what I was thinking. Granted lil'daddy is comfortably in the 10th percentile for height but some of these birds were as big as he was! lil'daddy had an ear-to-ear smile as he said "bird" and reached out his hand towards one of the birds. I'm not sure how many times I said "No Touch" in the store but he was relatively well behaved. While he was enjoying himself, he showed wise caution in heeding my warning. We identified some birds and practiced our colors - green red purple orange black yellow. I think this must have been as close as he has gotten to birds with no separating barrier. He was saying bye bye to the birds as we were leaving.

One the way out there were two birds right by the door. "Say bye bye" I said to lil'daddy. "Bye bye birrdy" replied lil'daddy. "Bye Byyee-I", said the bird! lil'dady did a double-triple take!!! His jaw dropped and he was the most visible stunned I have ever seen him. IT WAS AWESOME! I wish I could have video taped it, played it over and over and kept it for ever! The look was priceless and best of all it was free! After a good daddy chuckle, lil'daddy and the bird had another exchange of hellos and goodbyes. We went to our gym class and John had an great time. At the beginning of class, we sat next to each other in the circle with the other kids and their parents. lil'daddy usually likes to sit in my lap for our song time. He patted the playmat, clapped his hands, made the motions for the wheels on the bus and the horn. He clapped after every song. He participated in just about every aspect of gym class with enthusiasm.

I was in a good mood when we arrived early for our "11:15" gym class. After realizing how I goofed, at a few times during the day I thought the day might not go so well. The day did not go as I planned. The times when I thought the day was going to flop, really could have had the power to turn the day sour but it didn't. In hindsight the day was blessed. Thanks be to God.