pillow talk

I love eavesdropping on the conversations Lincoln and Daniel have after they've been put to bed. Here's the gem we overheard tonight.

Daniel: Venus is hot.

Lincoln: Hot? Really hot?

Daniel: Yeah, hot.

{In the next room, Joe and I are looking at each other with raised eyebrows. We are very curious to see where this conversation is headed}

Lincoln: Like, stylish hot? Is she stylish?

Daniel: No. Temperature hot, like a hundred degrees. Even her winters are hot.

{At this point, we parents realize with a sigh of relief that he's talking about Venus the planet and love that Lincoln used the word stylish)


Also, Jack was on an airplane kick this evening. We went for a Sunday evening drive, which he decided was an airplane trip. Joe was the pilot, and he quickly realized that Jack would obey anything daddy said in his pilot's voice. But the best part of all came at bedtime. Jack was busy being an airplane mechanic doing a little before-bed airplane maintenance, but found he needed to get deeper into character.

Jack: I'm not Jack. What's my name?

Joe: I don't know, what is it?

Jack: Ummm... Miyogi.

Joe: Miyogi? What's that?

Jack: A woman.

Joe (confused): Roman?

Jack (disgusted): No. Morning...no... vvvvvwoman.

Joe: You're a woman airplane mechanic?

Jack: Yeah.

for the quote board

I forgot to record this little gem from Jack:

In the lead-up to his birthday, Jack wanted us all to know that when he turned three he'd be really big ("wee big") like his brothers, and not little. 

He sounded pretty distressed when he went to get dressed the morning after his birthday.

"Mom", he called from his bedroom, "I can't wear of these tiny pants. I'm too huge!"  He would only be satisfied when I claimed that his pants had also had a birthday and weren't little kid pants anymore.

Bird is the Word

 Long-Billed Curlew, photo via Flickr

Okay, so Mr. Joe and I may have jumped on the birding bandwagon after reading (and loving) The Big Year.  Is there a birding bandwagon? I dunno. Whatever the case, everyone in this family (even Jack and Stella) has gotten really excited about birding (or bird-watching) lately. We've now got a (very amateur) family life list, and have started spending most of our family fun time looking for birds.

We've long been aware of the Pigeons, robins and quail in our neighborhood, but had no idea until recently that we had a Downy Woodpecker living in our yard, that House Finches and Northern Flickers have been regular visitors to our bird feeder, that the flock of pretty little birds in the trees outside Joe's office are Cedar Waxwings, and that a few of the birds we thought were pigeons are actually Eurasian Collared Doves.

It's been amazing to see the variety of birds that surround us on a regular basis. They've always been there, but we're just now starting to appreciate them. It kind of makes me wonder what else we're missing out on because we're not paying attention...

We spent a little time yesterday at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on our way home from Nana's house, where we got an up-close look at a Long-Billed Curlew (pictured above) and a Blue Heron, along with about 10 other birds we hadn't seen yet.  

Very Exciting.

And yes, without a doubt, very nerdy.  But in a world where where it seems to get harder and harder for kids to develop any sort of real relationship with nature, I'll take nerdy any day if it means my kids are excited about being outside and looking around.

As far a bird guides go, we've really loved Stan Tekiela's bird field guides. Our copy is Birds of Utah, but he's published one for every state (Birds of Alaska, Birds of Alabama, etc.). We love them because they are so user (and even kid) -friendly. The birds are organized by color and then size, so you don't have to know a bird's name to look it up. The field guides also include only birds you're likely to find in your State, so you don't have to shuffle through pages and pages of unrelated birds. They've been perfect for beginners like us.