The Birds Strike Back!!!

One of Ryan's favorite things to do outside is scare the birds. Any time he sees a bird, he asks if he can scare it away. He runs at them screaming...until they fly off. I don't know what's so amusing about it...but he could chase birds all day if I'd let him! Well, today the birds struck back (or one bird in particular). I decided to take the boys to Bear Creek Park this morning, just to get out of the house. Because of all the rain a few weeks ago, most of their animals weren't out. But, there WAS a rooster running loose. As soon as Ryan saw it, I heard those oh-so-familiar words, "Mommy, me scare bird. Peas. Peas. Peas." Not knowing much about roosters, I said it was okay. So...he took off running and screaming at the rooster. The rooster did not runaway, however. Instead, he started doing this little dance in a circle around Ryan. I thought it was so cute that I got out the camera and started snapping pictures. I looked up from behind the camera right as the rooster jumped and attacked Ryan. All I saw was a rooster in the air, feathers flying, and Ryan grabbing his arm screaming. Ryan ran to me still holding his arm. I looked...and he has battle wounds on his arm. I guess he messed with the wrong rooster! One thing I do know about birds is that they are dirty. So I ran to the car and got the Germ-X...it's all that I had handy. I cleaned it as good as I could till we could get home. (Don't worry, I called the pediatrician just to check and they told me to keep it clean with peroxide and keep an eye on the marks to make sure they don't become infected.)

Ryan's New Friend

As of today, Ryan has a new friend...his shadow! (As always, Ryan is able to keep everyone around him laughing.) We were on our way walking home from the neighborhood park when Ryan looked down and noticed "someone" following him. We explained that this is his shadow. We were "jumping" on his shadow's head. He thought it looked like so much fun that he wanted to do it too. He started running towards his shadow's head...and kept on running...not realizing that his shadow kept running, too. He ran quite a ways before he realized his shadow wasn't holding still. So, we diverted his attention and had him jump on other people's shadows. When we started heading home again, he turned to his shadow, waved, and said, "Bye bye shadow!" Then began walking. He turned around and noticed that his shadow was still following him. So again he waved and said, "Bye bye shadow!" and continued walking. He turned for a third time, and his shadow was STILL there! This time (with a little more attitude in his voice) he told his shadow good-bye. His shadow followed him all the way home...despite how many times he told it bye. When we got to the front door, I told him that his shadow would stay outside until next time we go out. So now every time we go out the front door, he looks for his shadow...making sure he's still there!