My Bug Loving boys
Butterfly, Caterpillar
Praying Mantis too!
Backyard Wonderland
Imagination Alive
A Bug Catching Dream!
The above book they received for Christmas last year, Take Along Guide Caterpillars, Bugs and Butterflies by Mel Boring. Both boys have been pouring over it to identify the critters we've found in our yard. It has great illustrations and a lot of fun facts about different insects. For each bug the book identifies what the insect looks like, where to find it, and what it eats.
A couple of days ago, Storytellin' Boy found a butterfly that was beautiful and perfectly intact, but no longer alive. He found it in the parking lot of his sister's preschool.
He brought it in the car and he said, "Aw... Poor little thing. I'm going to take him home and put him in a butterfly graveyard."
He placed the butterfly carefully on a napkin. He questioned me about what had happened to the "poor little guy." He continued to talk about the colors of the butterfly wings, they were a vibrant blue and black. He wondered if the butterfly's family might be missing him. I believe he may have even shed a few tears in the back of the car for this little butterfly.
It sounds a little dramatic, it's all part of nature and the life cycle after all, but it was moving to see my son's respect and care for nature and his sensitive side. He decided to keep the little black and blue butterfly and placed it on his dresser where he keeps his most important treasures.
A long time ago, William Wordsworth captured the mood of my kids chasing bugs and butterflies:Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,
The time, when, in our childish plays,
My sister Emmeline and I
Together chased the butterfly!
A very hunter did I rush
Upon the prey--with leaps and springs
I followed on from brake to bush;
But she, God love her, feared to brush
The dust from off its wings.
- By William Wordsworth, 1801
7 comments:
Bugs and boys. What a match! And that book looks great.
How sweet that he loves his bugs yet still has a sensitive side too...
Come read this please! ;D
I love the post, great comments - my kids are much the same!
Nicely done! I love that your boy is so interested in something that is actually so educational and also that he has that kind of sweetness of heart. Clearly there is a lot that you are doing right. I also love Wordsworth.
I took my morning constitutional out in the back country where the dirt bikes wreak havoc. It's quiet and isolated in the early morning and I can let the dogs run where they will. It smells good in the green of the creek bottom but that's the only spot of color you'll find in the barren hills scorched golden by the hot August sun. Except, this particular morning there were a hundred thousand stark white butterflies, filling the air in every direction, as far as you could see.
I thought of your boys right then.
Aww, that is wonderful! I'd love it if my daughter was curious about bugs. There would be far less screaming in the house!
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