Pal

In other parroting news, we can report that Clara is experimenting with calling Joe Pal as Julie does. Birdie likes to give Joe a hug and kiss before she heads into her bed, and one night this past week, as she did, she said, "Goodnight, Pal." Then later that same night, she appeared downstairs to say that Joe was crying and needed Mommy or Daddy. As Julie followed her upstairs, Birdie called out, "Mommy's coming Pal! Don't worry Pal!"  We had to put on some lights and "the red-tailed hawk song" (Alabama's Dixeland Delight which some Fans will know--"red-tailed hawk sittin' on the wind), to which the bambini were introduced in the wake of bird camp.  We'll see if it's a trend, this Birdie calling Joe, Pal.

No Whole Big Debates

Joe had a great week at te sports camps he went to with Graham at the Jewish Community Center.  Joe reported that there was a diving board, and he did cannonballs off it "like, a hundred times." His counselors, Sara(h?) and Zac(h?) (who was dubbed Banana by all the kids for reasons no one knows), told Julie yesterday at pick-up that Joe and Graham were great kids which is always, in turn, great to hear from counselors and teachers.  Early mornings have been cool but afternoons have been hot. So on the way home, Julie and Joe had been stopping for ice cream cones. They have pretty much established that they both prefer McDonald's over the DQ in spite of the fact that there is no twist cone option. (The vanilla tastes better and there's always a drive they option.)  But on Wednesday, Julie verified with Joe that he wanted to do McDonald's, to which Joe replied yes, and also, "and I don't want to have a whole big debate about it." Julie laughed to hear herself parroted so perfectly.

Always Have the Red?

Remember when Birdie sucked her two fingers like Ted did?

The boys were at a Twins game last night, so the Birds had dinner (macaroni and cheese and watermelon) al fresco on the front stoop so they could watch the world go by. After they'd been sitting there a while, Birdie asked Julie if she--Birdie--would always have the red on her leg. Julie said she would, that it was her birth mark. Clara asked if other people had birth marks and Julie said they sure did, but that they came in all different shapes and sizes and colors and they were unique--fancy for no two alike. And then Birdie asked if you could get one by touching it.

Julie just said no, that you had to be born with one. But her heart squeezed, wondering what might have been said to Our Birdie to prompt the question. Maybe nothing. One hopes such questions just came out of the blue, the way questions do when one is four. But kids are kids--all different, but for a long, long while trying so hard to be anything but, and ridiculing those that don't confirm to the ideal of the moment.

There are times we're asked, "What's that?" By now, it always takes Julie a beat or two to catch up to what the person asking is seeing, because she doesn't notice the birth mark anymore. When she asks herself what leg Birdie's birth mark is on, she has to flip through pictures she's saved in her heart--Birdie lying on the big bed as a baby, and was it on the leg visible, or no? Birdie learning to walk, her chubby legs swinging, clumsy; May, so she was in shorts--right or left?  That sort of thing.

Then that was that. The Birds ate their watermelon. Beautiful night for watermelon with a beautiful little girl, with a birth mark.

Bird Boy

Bird Boy and Birdie on the wolf outside the Bell's main entrance.

Inside a terrarium in the See and Touch Room.

Joe was been all this past week at the Bird's Eye View camp at the Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus. This was his first camp of the summer sans buddy so we were worried about how it would go. (Everyone likes a buddy.)  We are proud to report that Our Hero took it all in stride like it was no thing at all and by the end of the first day was playing in the foyer at pick-up like one of many in a pack of puppies. He now walks about spouting all manner of bird fun facts like: "A pigeon flaps its wings faster than a perigrine falcon but a perigrine falcon flies faster than a pigeon."

That particular factoid was relayed Saturday morning which began with Our Hero, tucked between us, watching a You Tube video of a naturalist talking about a red tailed hawk. Then we had this exchange:

Ted to Joe: "If you could be any kind of bird you wanted to be, what would you be?"

Joe: "A red tailed hawk or great horned owl."

Julie: "Those are strong and powerful birds."

Joe, matter-of-factly, "They're raptors."

Julie: "Would you be a predator then?"

Joe, laughing: "No! I would live in this family and be your pet."

So today we went to the Bell so Joe could show us all around.  It must be said that he walks about like he owns the place.  He was full of all the rules about how things are done, like, you can't touch the "screens."  (It is perhaps a sign of the times that he is calling the glass in front of a museum display a screen.)

This next week Our Hero will be reunited with Graham for two back-to-back sports camps each day at the Jewish Community Center before he returns to the Bell for two more camps to close out August.

And then: first grade.  !!!!!

Our Hero Loses Another Tooth!

Our Hero has lost another tooth!  This time, it was his bottom left tooth.  It had been hanging on by a thread all week, and came out last night in the middle of the night.  But it's gone.  Joe was awake when it came out and wanted to show it to us, but as it was the middle of the night, he decided to put it back in his mouth for safekeeping.  This thinking makes sense only to a six-year-old, obviously.  Not surprisingly--to the over six-years-old crowd--the tooth was gone by the morning.  We can't find it anywhere.  Joe thought he might have missed his shot at getting money from the Tooth Fairy, thinking also that she operates on a strict teeth for cash policy.  At the same time, he also seemed to question--albeit briefly--the whims and wiles of this Tooth Fairy when there was no money under his pillow this morning.  He had, after all, lost a tooth in the middle of the night.  So. . .did the Tooth Fairy stiff him or what?  We reasoned that as she had left money when he lost his first tooth--also lost and thus not tucked under his pillow--she must leave money for the actual loss, rather than the tooth itself.  And as to why she hadn't come last night, we reasoned that she had probably already left for the night with her basket (Clara) or bag (Joe) of money when Joe's tooth came out, and so did not have the money to give him on her.  So we think she will visit tonight.