new additions!

I think I'm viewing our third nest of the season as a Divine test for Sam. Thankfully, he passed.

Several weeks ago, one mama robin built a nest up underneath the deck a few feet down from an old nest that had been up there abandoned for over a year. Sam, not fully understanding what that meant, felt that he would be doing us a favor by knocking that nest down since he had seen daddy knock down the beginnings of a nest once on the front porch right by the door. He didn't realize that since this new nest was fully finished, that there was a good chance that it contained eggs. After a sad cleanup and a tough explanation of what smashed eggs meant for the mama bird, Sam was a little down...and so was I.

On to nest number 2: the abandoned nest. Seriously, we hadn't seen a feathered soul near that thing in well over a year until I thought I saw one fly out of that area one morning. I neglected to mention it to the kids. So, while out playing about a week after the first smashing incident, Sam decided to check it out and pull it down with a sandbox toy while Katie was here. I arrived home from work just in time to hear Sam, hysterical on the back patio, trying to explain to Katie that he had no idea that there were eggs in there. Neither had the rest of us. I cried that day for the second mama and for my heart-broken baby boy.

At that point, Sam vowed to never touch a nest again. And I secretly thought that he probably wouldn't have the option again in our yard, because I was sure the robins were spreading the word around the neighborhood about the kid who destroys nests and smashes eggs. We also said that the new family rule was that no one was allowed to touch a nest (even the beginnings of a nest on the front porch right by the front door).

Fast forward another week. As I'm letting Molly out in the morning, a bird flies out from the rafters above our heads. I am amazed when I look up to see another nest in the same spot where the assumed abandoned nest had been. I quickly pointed it out to Sam and let him know that this was his chance to let the mama have her babies. And he did it! We have waited patiently and noticed these three adorable little additions poking their heads out of the nest the other day:

So, Sam redeemed himself. Now, we need to work on getting the dog to stop chasing Mama Bird while she is trying to feed these little cuties!