Bugs

Aimee has really gotten into bugs this summer. While several of the other little neighbor girls shy away, Aimee jumps right in. We have lots of older neighbor boys who are semi-pros in the field of bug capture and keeping (torture). When her manual dexterity fails her and she can't pick them up she just tries to step on them. Porter has also caught onto this and does his best to coordinate his eyes and feet. It usually takes him 3 or 4 steps before he hits his target. Luckily for them, Aimee's latest catch it was slow and big. We found a big fuzzy caterpillar on our front door when we came home from music class one morning. We went inside and found an apple sauce bottle I had washed out a few weeks prior for bug collecting and gave the poor thing a new home. Thanks to the help of the neighborhood boys it has a lovely "habitat" complete with a stick, several leaves, dirt, and some "friends" which include ants and rollie pollies. Pretty much any animal or insect unfortunate enough to get caught in this neighborhood has a death sentence. I must admit I think that entertaining kiddos is just part of them filling the measure of their creation. Plus, I think it is pretty cute. Aimee had a nap with the caterpillar, took it to Wal-Mart, and had dinner with her new fuzzy friend. Until we are in a situation where we can have a puppy, I think these kind of pets are just gonna have to do. Sadly, the next morning the caterpillar had gone into a cocoon. It isn't nearly as fun to watch now, but Aimee is pretty excited to have it turn into a butterfly/moth.
I have a few videos of Chad helping the kids "play" with a cicada and making it chirp, but I can't find the cord to my camera to load them so I will have to post them later.