What do a bird, a fox, and lemonade have in common?

A bird, a fox, and a lemonade walk into a bar and... Nah, it's not like that. It's not that kind of story. You may be aware that Hazel has a cat named Midnight (see Hazel and Midnight here) but did you know that Iris has a pet, too? 

Have you even thought about birds having pets?

Actually, many of the birds in The Neighborhood have pets. For example, Iris has a pet fox named Michael J. 

What does the J. stand for? 

Your guess is as good as mine. I’m inclined to think it’s for Andrew.  You say that Andrew doesn’t come from J? Yeah, I know. Or maybe it’s John? 

So, what exactly does a bird do with a fox?

1. Iris loves to go on adventures with Michael J. It’s one of her favorite things. Sometimes Iris and Michael J. meet up with Hazel and Midnight for grand neighborhood adventures involving lots of drama around who’s the queen of the land and have picnics with lemonade, cookies, and cotton candy (you didn’t think a picnic involving Iris would have anything else, did you?) and lots of giggling (not just Iris and Hazel). Michael J. keeps talking about their next adventure having something to do with going back to the future. I’m not sure I get it. That fox is strange, am I right?!
2. They also love to dance, even though they fight over what music to play. What they do agree on is that the music is as loud as Iris's mom allows. They like to show off, so the drapes are always open unless Iris’s mom closes them. Sometimes Iris and Michael J. even go outside and dance in front of the family nest.
3. Iris and Michael J. play a game where they make up stories. Here’s how it goes: one of them says one or two partial sentences, then the other says one or two partial sentences, and they go back and forth. They’ll often end partway through a sentence.

 Here’s an example:

Iris: Once upon a time, there was a birdy with very fancy and bushy plume feathers that got soaked with…

Michael J.: …lemonade. Because there was lemonade spraying out of the...

Iris: …water faucet at Ms. Lillian’s Coffeehouse. And the bird with a plume started to giggle and…

Michael J.: …dance and try to drink the lemonade. Then everybody at Ms. Lillian’s started to…

Iris: …do the lemonade dance and…

 And so on and so on. All I can say is that they end up going from giggles to belly laughs to Iris's mom coming in to make sure they're okay many times a day.

So that’s what a bird, a fox, and lemonade have in common

They have each other. And a very silly story they made up. 

Where do you find Iris?

You can learn about Iris here and (sans Michael J.) here. 

Some questions for you

Do you have any pets? What kind of pets do you think other birdies in The Neighborhood might have? Would you believe it if I told you that one of them has a pet snake? Who do you think that might be? And seriously, what is the lemonade dance?

Thank you!

Thanks a bunch for stopping by!