A Different Perspective

My father succeeded in mating a pair of canaries recently and we had the opportunity to see the eggs laid and hatched.  We saw the chicks in their nest growing from little wet creatures who could not open their eyes to little birds who craned their necks out for food and who are now rather big and moving about the cage on their own.

Throughout all these stages, I have had my mum and my wife going on about how cute or how amazing they are.  Agreed with them and didn’t think any further about it.  That is until one morning when my daughter told me that she is glad that her grandfather raised the baby birds because it gave her a chance to witness the life cycle first hand.  Wow.  I never looked at it that way and I believe no one else in the family did either.

My daughter has Aspergers.  It makes her different from ‘normal’ children but that is not necessarily a bad thing.  Her view of the world is different and reminds me that there is a different way to view things that we take for granted.

Of Crabs and Friends

Bought a couple of hermit crabs a while back.  Had a really active one that would constantly climb up the plastic tree that was attached to the water bowl earning it the name ‘Tarzan’.  The other crab died and left Tarzan alone and soon Tarzan stopped climbing the tree and moving about.

I bought another hermit crab to replace the one that died.  I took care to get another active one.  Suddenly Tarzan has started moving again and climbing trees.  The new guy’s pretty active too and climbs as well.  Sometimes when I check, I find both of them huddled inside the little hut that was placed in the tank with them.

I suppose that even hermit crabs need friends as well.