Tuesday, May 4, 2010

the caterpillars have arrived

For Christmas (yes we celebrate it even though I'm not Christian. We celebrate it as a family holiday to get together, without any mention of the religious origin of the holiday) my son Leo received a butterfly kit as a gift from us. It has a net-like enclosure for the mature butterflies, and a postcard to send away for caterpillars when the weather is warmer. We mailed the postcard last week and they arrived yesterday. Leo was so excited when David told him at the end of school that he raced back inside to tell his teacher. (We gave a second kit to his teacher to use in the classroom, and her caterpillars should be arriving soon.) He had David page me at work to call home so that Leo could tell me all about them. The enthusiasm of a six year old is very special. He showed them to me as soon as I got home. The ten caterpillars come in two jars with their food and windows to watch them. He wanted to carry them around with him and have them sleep in his room with them, but we realized that if they are to survive he shouldn't carry them constantly. It will be fun to watch them grow larger, spin their chrysalis, emerge and grow.

I was impressed that Leo learned the word "chrysalis" in kindergarten when the classroom had silkworms. When I was a kid we just called it a cocoon. It's good that he's being taught the correct terms when young.


Leo did something yesterday that I thought would make David furious, but David just shook his head about it. We had our friends Gareth and Analisa and their kids Alec and Kaylin over for dinner on Saturday. David made two new dishes, a baked risotto with spinach and asparagus, and roasted sweet potatoes with pecans and a sweet topping. Leo wanted more, so David went to the store, bought more ingredients and cooked both dishes yesterday just for Leo. Leo looked at them and announced that he wasn't hungry for dinner and didn't eat a bite of either one. All that work and he didn't eat a bite.


I also wanted to introduce a new follower, jennrubenstein. Welcome Jenn. Your profile tells a lot about you, and I encourage people to check it and your blogs out.

5 comments:

  1. Christmas has pagan origins....

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  2. Yes, I know about the Roman holiday of Saturnalia (not sure that's spelled correctly), but that may be more than a six year old can handle. I celebrate it because of the good memories that I have of Christmas with my family.

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  3. when i was a boy, we found a bush on our property that was covered in caterpillars.... we took a cutting with several of the caterpillars on it, and raised them all the way thru to butterflies.... most amazing thing was seeing them grow and change and fly away... wow.. for a moment there i was a little boy again...

    - cheers..... david

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  4. That is awesome. When I had a herb garden back in DC I found a parsley worm that was beautifully colored so we bought a terrarium for him and he had his own parsley plant until he formed his chrysalis and morphed into the butterfly. It was very cool and the kids were fixated on it through the process. We even came up with a song that all of us sing to this day...it is "parsley worm" set to the music of the song "Country Road". I won't go into the rest of the lyrics. I know I feel so corny right now. Thanks, Sean

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  5. @David - glad to bring back a good memory. If you want to have caterpillars again, you can order a kit through the mail. Why not be a kid again and relive a good memory? We have the responsibilities of adulthood, so why not take a break and have a kid's mystery and enthusiasm about the world?

    @Sean - yeah, it is good to see the world through your kids' eyes sometimes. Don't feel corny, you're a dad who loves his kids. Care to share the lyrics?

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