Spring Has Sprouted

March has arrived at the Halley house bringing the arrival of new birds in our backyard (back from their winter condos), warmer days for park play, and the long awaited arrival of daffodils. Grace has always had a sincere excitement about early signs of spring. This year was no different as she rushed inside from the backyard calling "Mom! Mom!...The bulbs are sprouting! LOOK!" Arms held high, she held up her proof; each hand held two sprouted bulbs ripped out -- roots and all.

I can think of no greater honor for a flower bulb than to be hand picked as a welcomed sign of spring by a child.

Am I Going To Lay An Egg?

Taking advantage of a huge painting bonanza that seems to be going on in our playroom this week, Grace and Mom traced around some of our wooden half eggs of different sizes and then made 2D replicas of a number of bird eggs including: the chickadee, mockingbird, loon and robin. Tomorrow we'll be cutting them out and adding them to paper nests for display. Grace used a number of field guides for reference and did an excellent job of working on matching the colors of the eggs to the field guides. After using a lot of brown and beige, she let out a big sigh and asked when she would get to use her orange, purple and yellow paint on an egg. After wrapping things up, she had free reign over painting and entire page of bright neon eggs.The highlight of our conversation during egg painting (and one that will stay near and dear to my heart):

Mom? Am I going to lay an egg?
No, hun you are not going to lay an egg.
Is my gerbil going to lay an egg?
No. Gerbils are like people. Their eggs stay inside.
Mom?
Yes?
You had two eggs!
Me...and Jack.

To Be Like "Marie"

Degas has taken a bit of a back seat this week as we have been more into our bird studies. However, he is not forgotten. Grace mentioned today that she wanted to be like "Marie". The only Marie I knew was from the Degas children's book...of which I verified. She said she wanted to be like Marie, "The most famous dancer in the world". Ballet lessons here we come! Grace can hardly control her excitement.

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of...

...bird song. As the kids are out on the swing set, and our back door is open, the air is a-buzz with our daily visitors. Our most frequent birds are still the chickadees and tufted titmice. The red finch and sparrows have also dropped by for a bite. My personal favorite are the chickadees who do a fun swooping toward the feeder (as if they were riding an air roller coaster).We have another new visitor who has just popped up today, which may be the same bird Grace was trying to mention to me today. I've never seen him before in this neck of the woods. Just a little guy, with white, black and brown on his head...back to the bird books.