Chilly Green

Determined to buck the Last Child in the Woods trend, I dragged Wren out for a birdwatch at Mercer Slough on Friday. It was a bitter day after a week of sun and we were not well prepared for the wind that swept across the grassland from Lake Washington. Despite the weather, the daffodils were bunching, the apple trees were in blossom and the ducks were mating. Horsetail ferns were pushing up their strange asparagus-like tips and we enjoyed watching flocks of white-capped sparrows, robins and chickadees moving through the old orchards at CUH.

Here are some pictures from that morning.

It was cold and I only had my bunny hat in the car so I wore that. As often happens with something on your head, I quickly forgot about it and only later realized why the posses of dog walkers were giving me smiles and nods. I had assumed it was the indefatigable cuteness of Wren.

Over by the pond Wren saw some Northern Shovelers 'fighting'. They were actually mating but it did not look friendly. The drake had pounced on the female duck and thrust his tail over her to the point that she was submerged beneath him and desperately sticking her head out from underwater while he did his "fighting" on her. This picture is of the drake mating. The duck is completely submerged beneath as he holds her down with his beak!

Wren found the horsetail ferns fascinating and broke some off to "see what is inside".

Outside CUH Wren found a fountain and asked for coins to drop in wishes. He had four pennies and one nickel and wished for:

An excavator

A digger

A ferry boat

A red dragon and

Candy

Since I had wished for a coffee we retreated to Zoka where I enjoyed one. Josh has challenged me to try his new diet (involving a single month long behavior change. His was only drinking water instead of other sweeter beverage options) and so I am now forsworn from pastries, even those which are remnants of Wren's indulgence.

We have just bought a Wii Fit board. Wii Fit analyzed the family and told us that Joshua is overweight, I am on the cusp of normal/overweight and Frost is at risk of being overweight.

Frost is rather alarmed and asked for a banana for bedtime snack instead of his usual nutella toast X2 option. He is thrilled and appalled by the accusation and reminded me of something Principal Skinner said "there is right and there is rude," calling Wii Fit rather rude. He says he will not let his friends do it in case they are offended. Good call. For the record, Frost is not overweight but he is large for his age - in the 75% percentile or so, which has probably been interpreted as rather risky weight wise. I explained that he is a fine size but of course he could eat better as he eats far too much sugary food and does not like to eat many vegetables. We shall see if this lasts.