Lily made this classic pine cone bird feeder at preschool. While Emmy was napping, I dragged…almost literally…Lily out to the backyard to hang it from one of our lilac bushes. When we went back inside, I told Lily to watch her pine cone, and see if she could spot any birds. Ed and I had just seen a blue jay and a cardinal on Sunday, so I was hopeful that a colorful bird would make an appearance. Lily had an even better idea…she wanted me to find Ed’s binoculars. She spent a few minutes birdwatching out of our kitchen window.

I had another plan for Lily that afternoon. (Keeping her busy while her little sister is sleeping can be a challenge!) We had just received gobs of book orders from the preschool teachers. When I made sure the order form was safe, I gave them all to Lily with the direction to look for books that she had already read. Then we got out the scissors and glue, and she started making a little poster.She found a foursome of Kevin Henkes books, and only cut out three of them. She neglected Julius, Baby of the World. When I told her she had read it, she replied, “But Mommy, I don’t remember it!” We decided it was a good rule. If she didn’t remember reading a book, it didn’t go on her poster. (She later changed the rule, but that was OK with me!) When she was tired of cutting and gluing, Lily decided to do a little more birdwatching.

As she was looking out the window, she said, “Mommy, there’s a big bird out there! I think it’s a crow!” I looked out the window, fully expecting to see a big, black bird. Instead, at the top of our neighbors willow tree, I saw a huge hawk! He was puffing out his feathers for warmth, and that made him look even bigger. I grabbed my camera and ran outside. He flew away before I could take a picture of him, but my little point-and-shoot camera wouldn’t have taken a good picture anyway. Lily had the good sense to stay in the warm kitchen while I ran out into snow flurries just to try to take a picture of a bird that flew away! Instead, she started looking through her binoculars at ME!

I keep looking for that hawk, but he hasn’t come back. So far, all we’ve seen are squirrels going after the pine cone. Lily doesn’t mind…she likes squirrels. Lily finished her book project, and as I took her picture, I saw once again how much she looks like me when I was her age!