if every moment of our lives were cradled softly in the hands of some strange and gentle child, i'd not roll my eyes so

One of Ethan's favorite videos to watch while receiving his breathing treatments is one of Elmo singing a song about his ducks. (I believe it's appropriately titled Elmo's Ducks.) With that song in our heads over the past few days, Ethan and I have been on a quest to meet some ducks of our own. Ethan's ducks. We packed up the two loaves of bread sitting on our counter that had reached their expiration date before we managed to finish them and set off for some ducks. Living in south Florida, there are lakes everywhere and, consequently, ducks everywhere. This was not so over the past few days, however. It was like all of the ducks packed up and went on a duck vacation. After circling the city, pulling into the parking lots of various parks and scoping out the canals and lakes with a disappointing sigh at the sudden lack of ducks, we headed to a park near my parent's house. A park with a lake so huge that there just had to be ducks.

Ethan saw something near the water as we excitedly ran over to check it out -- but, alas, not a duck. Instead, we watched the small white water bird walk up and down the shoreline. "Dis," Ethan urged, pushing the loaves of bread toward me. I told him I wasn't sure the bird would be interested in the bread but we tried anyway. (He wasn't.) Ethan still got a kick out of tossing pieces of bread into the grass. Before long, friendly squirrels ran over to retrieve the bread the water bird didn't feel like eating. Ethan laughed as they scurried up the trees, carrying the pieces of bread in their tiny hands, fluffing out their bushy tails.

We spent nearly an hour at the edge of the lake, watching the the water occasionally ripple. It was a beautiful afternoon spent amongst nature...but there were no ducks. There were no ducks for the next few days, even.

This morning once Ethan woke up, it was time for his treatment and another viewing of Elmo's Ducks. That was it. We were finding ducks. This afternoon, my husband and I packed up Ethan and the rest of the bread and set off for a park on the other side of the city that I had seen ducks at once. At this point, it was all we had to go on: once I was there and once there were ducks.

And then there they were, in all their feathered glory. Ducks. A mommy and her sweet babies.

To say Ethan was delighted would be an understatement. We couldn't toss the pieces of bread fast enough for his liking. Ethan pointed out each piece to the ducks in the event they didn't see them right away, laughing as they gobbled up the pieces. We spent a while with the ducks, watching them eat and play and interact with one another (and Ethan).

Finally. Ethan found his ducks.