Theme Thursday

Dear Ladybird and Jaybird,

This letter might put me over the top in the mothering world. It just might reveal exactly how obsessed I truly am with you, my little curious wonders. Each week that I am home with you and witness your growth and development is yet another week that makes me smile at your progress. I'd love to take credit for how interested you are in every thing that crosses your path, or how easily you pick up minor details of our day without even a word being mentioned to you.

Still, I have to do something. Every week. Every day. Think of it as for my growth and development as a mother. Humor me, in other words. I know that since you are twins and have each other you don't need these "structured" activities, which is why we always go with the flow (so long as it doesn't interupt a meal, a nap or, God Forbid, bedtime).

This week, I'm starting Theme Thursdays for toddlers. That's right.

Each week we always talk about lots of things, but this week we are spending an extra amount of time on birds. We've been out three times -- and will continue as long as weather permits - in the early mornings for bird watching.

You love watching birds as they flutter from tree, to birdfeeder, to Lilac bush, to electrical wires and back to the Cherry Blossom. This morning a group of sweet birds had a singing party over some food they all wanted right before your wide-open eyes. The smile that grew on your faces was memorable.

You love to flap your arms like a bird. We do this here and there, especially when you start to get antsy.

I've also read you some poems by Emily Dickinson such as this one:

A Bird came down the Walk --
He did not know I saw --
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

And then he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass --
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass --

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all around --
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought --
He stirred his Velvet Head

Like one in danger, Cautious,
I offered him a crumb
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home --

Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam --
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon
Leap, plashless as they swim.

Today, after your morning nap, we will build bird nests -- an idea I got from this great Web site. We will use a pair of plush birds that squeak that you were given as infants.

And, tomorrow if it rains, instead of bird watching outside, under the Cherry Blossom, we'll have a rainy day Bird Extravaganza at Toddler Toddler.