Baby Bird Eats

We found ourselves a little baby bird a few weeks ago. Jackson came across it after accidentally kicking it. My first inclination was to just leave it, and let... nature take it's course? Seriously, I had no idea what to do, but the kids were very confident that we would save the bird.

So, after seeing more empathy out of Jackson than I thought he was capable of, and Allie at her max of sweetness with an "Oh he's so cute! Where is his Mommy?" every 2 minuets, I knew we had to do something. We started with the local nature center, who instructed us to look for a nest, and if we couldn't find one, call the animal rescue league. The animal rescue league had extensive instructions on how to help baby birds, so we followed the instructions, and eventually got in touch with a woman who took on baby birds. [Side note: Mother birds cannot smell human touch. It is perfectly safe to lift a bird into a nest. Who knew I had been deceived by such a prevalent urban legend for so long!]

After what felt like a jarring 20 minuet ride to Ms. Catherine's house, we bequeathed the little birdie to a volunteer expert who assured Allie, she would try to be a good Mommy for the bird. Allie, most of the way home was seriously concerned with how Ms. Catherine could be the bird's Mother, and how in the world the bird was going to find its real Mother. I hardly blame Allie in her concern, I was mostly curious how in the world the bird was going to eat without a mother bird to chew and regurgitate food into its little peeping mouth. Ms. Catherine assured me that she has food for the bird. Who knew!

Our own little baby bird has been learning to feed himself, and learning how to express which foods he actually wants to eat. He can now lead us to the fridge and point. This pointing method led to the great discovery of his love for Kalamata Olives. Oh my goodness, his diet. The suspense and surprises never end.

We now have an enormous Costco sized bottle of Kalamata olives, which he stopped eating after 2 days. This is definitely not Jackson, who will eat the exact same thing everyday for 6 months (certainly good and bad things to that issue). Porter's taste buds and psyche is much harder to pin down, and it's definitely STILL killing me. Mostly because if he eats well, he sleeps well--so it's personal.

Though, they have different eating styles, Jackson and Porter are definitely brothers. Little P man has taken on the trains, just like big bro, and he has taken to insisting on bringing certain items with him. I love this post of Jackson doing the exact same thing at this age. The umbrella has been a favorite of late, but during a rainy day walk, he wanted to solidify it with the real professional look.

My baby bird is growing up!

Got Teeth?

Oh neglected blog. So many neglected aspects of life... like teeth! I had four cavities at the dentist this week. FOUR!? While some in our family are decaying, others are growing, and others are receiving strange nightly fairies....

Porter, happens to have 8 teeth up front, four molars and no canines. You would think with a mouth like that, he would love to use his pearly whites, but alas. The boy still has an aversion to most foods. Sigh. Veggie Straws, strawberries and blueberries are his usual go-tos, and even then he'll reject them on a whim.

(Look closely at his eyelashes in this picture. He woke up from a nap having perfectly crimped his right eyelashes. It was quite the trip to look at him!)

And here's our recently turned 6 year old (though age 5 in this picture), with a gaping hole in his mouth [and a lovely half-stache scab--they're really quite vogue, you know]. This past year has been a good one for Jackson, as he's grown in maturity, silliness, mental skills, and athletic prose. We love his enthusiasm and energy, and curiosity for life. He crossed the momentous rite of tooth passage at school with very little fanfare. His tooth had been wiggling for a good month, and then fell out without him realizing it.

Of course, there was no sign of the tooth, so a detailed note was given and left up to the tooth fairy to decipher:

Poor little Allie was quite frightened of someone coming into their room in the middle of the night--fairy or no fairy. I don't blame her--the tradition is a bit strange and creepy. Luckily we were able to quell her fears with the thought of glitter and fairy-like wings. She is going through a strong scared phase, where the slightest thing can set her imaginative mind a-light. We remember Jackson going through a similar stage at age 3, but Allies big eyelashes and cuddly nature, sure makes me want to pull all the fears away [until it's the 3rd night in a row I've been woken up]. Hopefully the tooth fairy fear has completely left, since I think the fairy will be needing to make another visit quite soon--hopefully with real evidence this next time.

In other news, little P man has given up crawling for the more efficient use of his feet. Woot woot! In mid-April (at 16 1/2 months) he finally decided it was worth his time to put to use all the steps he's been practicing for 4 months. It is darling, and so much easier on his clothes. Yay Porter!

(Here are the kids on Easter--and Porter still pulling his crawling moves)

And here is our family playing Red Light Green Light for family night this week, and Porter playing along with nimble speed! Sorry for the film quality, multi tasking is so... difficult!

We're so thrilled he's walking, Mark's even got him T-ing up for summer golf. Porter's first shot was a hole-in-one--we think this new standing skill is going to be a fantastic thing for him. Watch out Tiger... or err Jordan, or who ever is the top dog these days, you ain't seen nothin' like the little toothed P-man.