I kept the interwebs updated in other areas about the BUG DRAMA that unfolded in our lives this weekend. It all started Friday when Wes found this dead beetle on our porch. He started carrying it around and while I took pictures of his sister before his dance recital, he insisted that I take a picture of him and his bug too.
As you see here, he even put the bug on his lap. You know – because when he gets his picture taken with Mommy or Daddy? He sits in their lap! This photo setup only makes sense.
We found a green jar for him to put the bug in, and he dumped it out and looked at it 100 times between Friday night and Saturday morning. He took it to Nikki’s ballgame where he was the talk of all the little brothers. They even found ANOTHER beetle to put in the jar. TWO DEAD BUGS. We were all quite proud.
He wanted to take it to Accolades (E’s theater awards show) Saturday night. At first I said “No,” but he was so disappointed, and I found the whole ordeal so cute, I obliged.
See the jar in the photo there? That’s about as far as he ever wanted it from him. EVER. So we let him take it to the show. And of course, about 1 minute before lights went down in the house (house: the part of the auditorium where the audience sits.) Wes dropped the jar. Glass and dead bugs EVERYWHERE. It was AWESOME. It was pandemonium as we looked for a broom and tried to get everything cleaned up before the show started. Wes handled it well, but was not impressed that I crammed his precious dead bugs in my purse.
I HAD DEAD BUGS IN MY PURSE.
Now the bugs reside in the plastic cup in my kitchen. You know, because we think that’ll impress guests. “Please, come into our home. Yes. Those are dead bugs in our kitchen. Are you ready for dinner?”
He’s very disappointed he has not found any more to add to the collection. I thought about trying to preserve them in some way, but he loves holding them in his hand and feeling their sticky feet attach to his skin. (EW.) I’m guessing we’ll have to just dispose of them eventually. I am hoping, however, that he finds more to replace it. I’m thinking bugs are his thing now, which means they need to become MY thing. As long as they’re dead, I’m okay with that. I told Wes we are NOT collecting LIVE bugs. You know…because we don’t want to take them from their families.
Yeah. That’s why. It has nothing to do with the fact that BUGS ARE FREAKIN’ CREEPY. I can cope with Dead Bugs…but live ones? HELL NO.
I thought I was the only one who tells my kids not to separate the creatures from their families. Great post, as always.
So I will start this out by admitting that my mother is very (delightfully) weird. She has a thing for cicadas and the shells/skin they shed. However, this creeped us all out a little bit, so she decided to cast them in silver when she took a casting class at the local museum. The casts? Are AWESOME! And they even got all the little details on the legs and grooves on the shells. So now instead of a bowl of cicada shells (gross) she has a bowl of silver cicadas (very cool).
I find the whole thing hilarious and adorable, but only because I don’t have to deal with it. Hee, he puts them on his lap! Can’t you tell him the dead ones should be with their families too? Or something?
You are a MUCH more tolerant mom than I am! I would be way too grossed out to let him keep actual dead bugs. Take a look at these bugs in acrylic, they might be a good solution. Definitely more transportable (is that a word?) than a glass jar.
http://www.amazon.com/Specimens-Cricket-Locust-Yellow-Beetle/dp/B000GYZ2IK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305554156&sr=8-1
This made me laugh SO HARD.
Dude, it’s CICADA SEASON. He will soon be inundated with dead bugs. You should see my office.. they are literally spread down the hallway by each door to the outside.
.. should I pick some up for him?
Oh this made me laugh and recall when I found a bowl of earthworms in my refridge from my boys…it was a very hot, humid day and they were out digging in the mud…found the worms, and so naturally to keep the worms cool…little boy thinking, put them in the refridge. Oh yes, the joys of having boys. Wait til you start washing rocks and smaller items they store in their pockets.
You are such a cool mom! 😀
Oh! My daughter is obsessed with bugs and reptiles and we are ALWAYS collecting critters to keep in her little terrarium/way station in her room. The worst of it? COCKROACHES. She’s found a few of those huge water cockroaches shuffling about in our back bathroom (I know; it’s HIDEOUS) and she KEEPS them and lets them CRAWL on her and she LOVES them. It is the grossest thing ever. Worse, she wants me to share in the love and I just….I just can’t. She found a dead one once and CRIED. Because it was DEAD. I had to put away the confetti because that is totally a cause for celebration if I ever heard one.
ONE TIME she found a rough green snake (snakes are her favorite and she has requested that we only refer to her as Snakey Snake from now on), which are supposedly harmless little guys (and usually they are) but this one got good and angry at her and BIT HER, latched down on her thumb and WOULD NOT let go. I was HORRIFIED and once I pried it from her thumb she tearfully begged me not to let it go. “It was just scared, Mama! He was protecting himself!”
So what I’m saying is…..pray he sticks to the dead ones.
i have to admit the first photo gave me goosebumps. bugs are not my thing…i can handle dead one (but not touching them) but am not a fan of the live ones.
you are such a cool mom to let him keep it!
You really are the best mom ever–a much better mom than me! My guy (3yrs) is into special rocks, sticks, and feathers (as opposed to the REGULAR rocks and sticks). Rocks and sticks–no big deal. But the feathers are from pigeons and he wants to sleep with them. Gross flying rat feather germs in his bed? yick.
My three year-old now has a pet cicada named, “Cicady.” He brought Cicady over to me to let him crawl around on my hand. I deserve an award for letting Cicady crawl around on my hand and arm for a whole minute before returning him.
The day care teachers told my husband today that our son is the only kid there who is not afraid of the cicadas. How did I get to be so lucky?
http://www.storeforknowledge.com/Watch-A-Bug-by-Insect-Lore-P3420C206.aspx
I bought this for my 3 year old nephew and you would have thought I hung the moon. He truly loves it (me) and I ended up buying a couple of backups because… we don’t go anywhere without his “bug watch” this has been a great joy with him because he has learned some social skills when showing his “collection” of dead icky bugs…
So, I’m guessing there’s a natural museum in your near future? Around here, the universities have the best beetle collections. Have fun Mom. 🙂
That is the most hilarious little trait he’s developed! You have to HAVE TO remember this story and keep these pictures close to share with him later in life!