Have you had a conversation with a Duck lately?

The girls and I decided to take a walk down to a lake nearby and see if the ducks would enjoy some bread. We didn't have much bread in the house so each kid got two slices. Colette, as any self respecting one-year-old would, ate each piece I gave her to throw to the ducks. She did stop on occasion and point and say "duuc".

Savannah and Leila sat down and started throwing pieces of bread. As the ducks began to gather to try their luck at getting some bread, the girls began having conversations with the ducks. They said things like "Hi Duckies" or "Come and get it Duckies" or "How is your day Duckies?" or "Look what we have for you duckies" These sayings were accompanied by hand waving, bright smiles, and fingers showing them what they had brought them. They asked the ducks what they had done so far, if they liked the cold water, if they missed the sunshine, and if they knew how to share.

During this conversation, more and more ducks began to gather. Each girl paused but a second. In that second they both had picked out a specific duck that they were going to feed and began singling them out. They would get the duck's attention and wave a big piece of bread in the air, and when they thought they were paying attention they would do their best to throw it as close to them as possible. Sometimes the chosen duck would get the bread which earned a "Yes!" or "Mom look they got the bread!" Sometimes these little blue-colored ducks would speed by and snag the bread before the intended duck could get it. This would earn statements like "Hey duck, stay away," or "That was for this ducky, duck."

As Savannah threw in her last two pieces of bread for her duck, a blue duck got to them first. She was devastated. She was on the verge of crying. As we walked home she told me how much she was worried about *her* duck being hungry and not getting enough food because of the blue ducks. She just didn't know how her duck was going to make it through the night. I tried to explain that ducks get food from other things, or maybe other people would come and give them more bread, but she refused to believe any of it. Finally, I said maybe if the weather is nice we could come back tomorrow and check on the duck and bring another piece of bread. Her eyes lit up and she smiled and said that would be just the thing her duck needed.