Big Bird has left the Building

For some crazy reason, the three boys in my family (Christian, Ethan & Aidan) have or have had some strange obsession with birds when they are (or were) young. When Christian was little, his dad would ask him what he wanted to talk about, and he would always say, "Chickens." Then they would have entire conversations about what chickens eat, how they lay eggs and so forth. When Ethan was little, he talked about roosters all of the time. He loved the "cock-a-doodle-doo," and we even found him a rooster costume at Costco when he was 3 -- which won him the best children's costume for our ward Halloween party. And now Aidan talks constantly about being a baby bird. He even makes his two blankets into a "nest" and sits in the middle of them. We bought both boys an egg filled with candy at the grocery store on Saturday, and after Aidan finished his M&M's, this green plastic egg has become his bird egg. He puts it in his pocket and pretends to "lay" the egg. He made a nest for it this morning with his blankets, and even when the three boys were playing racecars this morning, Aidan said, "My race car is going nine eggs an hour." (We think he heard Christian say "ninety miles an hour" and changed it for his benefit.)

All three boys also have a strange association with Big Bird. When Christian was in high school, he had a couple of friends who gave him the nickname Big Bird. I don't know why, since I wasn't friends with him, but fortunately it didn't stick. However, when we lived in Orem, his friend Mike's wife Becky re-nicknamed him Big Bird without knowing about the prior nickname, all because Christian wore a yellow jersey when he went biking with Mike. Well, we have a small stuffed Big Bird that Christian received from his friends in high school and we kept it around for whatever bizarre reason, and Ethan fully adopted it when he was small. He slept with it every night for two years. Eventually, the need for Big Bird receded, and Aidan quickly picked up the need. He now sleeps with Froggie, Doggie and Big Bird every night.

So, we spent a nice day and a half together as a family, enjoying every minute (and we haven't even turned the tv on yet today and it's 2:30 PM. Yay!!). And now Christian has left to go to Washington DC for the week for an all-expenses paid work-related conference (AGPA - American Group Psychotherapy Association, I think). Hence, the title of this post. I may be a bit lonely this week, so be sure to update your blogs regularly because I will probably be spending an unsightly amount of time stalking them. Goodbye for now!