Birdie
OK, so my 4 year old's favorite toy is a stuffed animal bird, that chirps when you squeeze it. We hear that chirping noise all day, every day.

He's also really into this bird book we got that plays the calls of the pictured bird.

So he's playing with the book, and I ask him if "birdie" (the toy) is in the book. Nooo, he tells me, like that's crazy talk.

At this point there's no stopping daddy.


Now, this bird book has 250 different birds in it. There's a fair chance, if "birdie" is based on a real specise, that he's in there.

I ask my son to bring over birdie, so I can see if he (the bird) is tagged with a type. Birdie's bobbing up and down while I check his tags "all new materials.. yadda... yadda...", and after a little squinting I find a number (model numer?) and a company name.

Well, Google's my friend.

I search for "SBB-2004 bird toy", expecting pay dirt on the first go.

Nothing. Drat.

I back up, and try the company name. "K&M bird toy". Bingo! Huge pics on E-Bay, Amazon store links, the works.

Birdie is a "Black Throated Warbler". Plush 5" toy, $7.49, in stock, shipping weight of 4 ounces. ($49 plus shipping if bought via eBay. Cavieat Emptor) "The authentic sound in each bird has been provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology". Nifty.

Bird Book
Back to the book. Hey, cover the book says "Featuring audio from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology". Apparently it's a small bird world, after all.

Index of said book tells me that on page 236 is a "Black Throated Gray Warbler". Very close, let's take a look... picture's close, and the song is a little different than the one we constantly hear emitting out of stuffed little Birdie.

So, my son and I are geeking out with a bird book. I'm also trying to show him how to enter a 3 digit number on a little display to match the page number, with success most of the time. I think it's because the 8-segment LED display has 2's 5's, 6's and 9's that look odd if you're looking at it with 4 year old eyes.

Is this normal? Do other people do this kind of stuff, or am I seriously wierd?