They are prehistoric. Dinosaur -like. Reptilian, even.
They are zygodactl: two toes in front and two in the back.
They are amazing, my boy’s little feet.
When Piper eats, he holds the food with one foot while balancing on the other like Simone Biles on the beam. He can climb up and down the rungs of his mansion (we never call it a cage) in true Spider Man fashion. (He can even do this with food in his beak!).
He scratches himself with his foot, using it to unfurl any new feathers that have grown in.
He gives himself pedicures, raising his toes to his beak, shaping them to his precise liking.
He can pick up toys with a foot, lifting it up to rub his beak against it or to chew; I am convinced he is part beaver.
Think about this: birds never lay down. They are always on their feet. When he sleeps, however, he tucks one inside the low feathers of his breast. When he puts that foot back down, it is warm from its cozy nest of all those feathers.
My favorite thing about Piper’s feet, though, is that they are the part of him that connects us. When he lifts a foot to be picked up, I am honored. When he sits on my finger and cleans himself, I am grateful. And when he is cuddly, when he curls his toes, pulls his foot into his chest, eyes heavy, wobbling just the tiniest bit on one foot, my heart expands.
Yes, they are amazing, my boy’s little feet.
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