Five weeks ago, some of us were holding our breath that little Lucky would survive the weekend when food was not delivered in more than 24 hours. This chick is strong and is not afraid to show it.  STORY: Harriet and Lucky

We all know that her Highness Harriet rules the roost.  She tells her mate when it’s time to bring food. She makes sure to keep her eggs warm during that all-important incubation period. And once hatched, she keeps her chicks fed and fiercely protects them from weather and intruders.

Harriet is not unlike most human moms when their kids are growing. It’s that motherly instinct that kicks in when another little being is dependent on us for their every need. We birth them. We feed them.

They grow. They learn. They get attitude and give us grief...

Wait, what? Attitude? Say it ain’t so! Well yes. Yes, it is. In our house, we call it a ‘tude. And recently little Lucky copped a ‘tude with Harriet, who seems to be simultaneously looking at her beautiful, flourishing chick in this video while giving Lucky the stink eye and saying, “Where is this ‘tude coming from, little one?"

I chuckled when I watched this. Our granddaughter is 19 months old, and she has been a very good baby in everything since birth.

Until about a month ago.

And now she has copped the toddler ‘tude in a big way.

Oh. My. Gosh. This grandma doesn’t remember it being so exhausting when our 19-month old brandished her toddler 'tude around this time 27 years ago. I’m wondering if Lucky’s stage of development shown in the video above is the equivalent of a toddler tantrum. I can tell you that Lucky’s fit didn’t last but a blink of an eye compared to the one I endured from the cutest granddaughter in the world the other day.

But that’s okay. I know she’s at the stage where she’s mobile and learning to communicate more and more every day and she gets frustrated in not being able to communicate exactly what she wants. So she throws a fit to get our attention. It works.

Still, even through those crying, slobbering, out-of-control fits—and into the tough teenage years when our kids turn into beings from other planets—we still love them. Sometimes we don’t like them very much, but we always love them. We still endure the wind, rain, snow and hailstorms of life as it all piles up on our shoulders—and we do it all to protect those kids and see them through until they fly the coup.

That’s what Harriet does. In this video, she holds through the storm with her trusty mombrella, protecting little Lucky in the wee hours of the morning when most of us were asleep.

Harriet has endured some wicked weather high up in that nest. She has endured those storms of life to rear her young just like nature intended—and obviously she's been successfull, as at least two of her chicks have returned to attempt to land on the nest recently.

A stop-action shot—just look at the determination in this bird’s eyes when she was being pelted from hard rain and then hail, which you can see here piling up on her back. Hunkering down, she instinctually opens her wing over her chick and steels herself against the hail to protect her offspring—that motherly instinct once again has her taking the brunt of the storm.

Yes, we’ve seen Harriet weather many storms, whether it be heat, hail, snow, intruders or lost mates. This was but a blip on the weather radar for her, and it’s not going to be her last. She continues to protect and nurture Lucky, and if we are all lucky, she and Swoop will be successful in raising this young bird until it fledges within the next couple months.

And we’ll marvel at her all over again.