"The BIRD" is NOT for 2 year olds

Yesterday I went to Wal-Mart...not my favorite place but I go just for the cheap groceries and yarn to support my new habit. Anyway, I was in the 40 person long line sighing my life away and there was a woman with her little girl in front of me. Of course when we reached the little part of the line where the candy lines the aisle on both sides (which I say is a marketing strategy just to drive parents to drink) the little girl started crying for a ring pop or that candy that you squeeze from a tube. The mother told her no but the little girl's resolve got stronger. She HAD to have that teeth rotting paraphernalia and would not take no for an answer. Finally the mom had had enough and said with absolute conviction, "NO!". What I saw next defied nature. This little one who had to use vowel filled jumbles of jabber to communicate as she wasn't yet forming complete sentences with complete words jabbed out her pint sized arm, bent her wrist toward the sky and extended her middle finger at her mother, neatly making sure all of the surrounding fingers were in their resting positions.

Needless to say, my eyes got huge, my mouth dropped and the mother stopped focusing on her temper tantrum having toddler and looked straight at me. I could read her eyes. She was humiliated and her desperate eyes were telling me that there were older siblings or a misbehaving daddy at home that were to blame for this incident. I felt bad for her and puzzled by her at the same time. I'm not out to judge a parent because I know, although I am not yet a mother, how extremely difficult it can be to raise a child right. But the bird...at 2 years old or less?!? All I can say is that this little girl is a smart one with a lot of dexterity. BUT...the only bird she should be thinking about is this one...
'Nuff said.