The baby Robins have hatched. It sounds simple and common enough, but it's been a rare treat to be able to watch so closely as the parents feed the babies. All I can see at this point are four upturned beaks, barely visible above the rim of the nest as worm pieces are fed to them. This reminded me of when Mackenzie was little and first eating popcorn. We were living in what we affectionately refer to now as The Mouse House, and we had two recliners w/ walking space in-between. One-year-old Kenzie would go back-and-forth b/w these two chairs getting popcorn pieces from Doug and me. We'd bite off the hulls so she only received the soft parts, and it was all we could do to keep up w/ her little upturned beak. Just before bedtime tonight, Maddy suggested we name the four baby birds Ron, David, Lori, and Mari w/ the mama being named Lucy. This is rather ironic since I had made a similar reference a few days ago to these four eggs being like my three siblings and me.
Well, speaking of Maddy. She drove a stick-shift for the first time today. She didn't think it went well until I told her that I went through the same difficulties of stalling it, shifting to the wrong gear, and not giving it enough gas once the clutch is out so that it starts jumping back-and-forth before it stalls. Ron had a brown Toyota to which this last thing happened to me, and Lori and a chartreuse car, can't remember the make, to which the first two proved problematic for me. In fact I didn't really get the hang of driving a five-speed until I was in my 20's and living in Austin, Texas. That was trial-by-fire, and I told Maddy about me sitting at a traffic light for at least five light changes b/c I couldn't get it in first gear. Sometimes learning something new means stepping away from it for awhile. I think I may have pushed too hard w/ Mackenzie b/c she gave up trying just a few months after turning 14. I let Maddy go more at her own pace.
Parents learn from experience just like children do, and maybe if I had 10 more kids I'd start to get the hang of it. I certainly wasn't a good teacher my first few years in the classroom, but each year I learn a little more and try a few new approaches in hopes of being better than I was the year before. I think parenting is the same. I wonder if Lucy Robin will grace us w/ another nest next Spring, or if another year will make her wiser and decide that the Burns' family was just too nosey!!
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