Saturday, January 26, 2013

Sydney's Butterfly Obsession


My daughter is fascinated with caterpillars and butterflies. At Redeemer, there are tons of milkweed plants which attract the caterpillars that make monarch butterflies. Hard as I tried to dissuade Sydney from continually bringing home these squishy little crawly friends, she just couldn't stop herself. Hidden in her backpack, a cup, or just in her hand, she continued to bring these buggers home.

Rather than fight the inevitable, I embraced her fascination. We went to the pet store and purchased a small, plastic container with a removable lid and a handy little door on top perfect for putting "food" in for the caterpillars. Since they only eat milkweed, we break leaves off the plants at school and bring them home to feed our Pygmalion friends.

Veritable experts now on gathering the caterpillars and providing them with the perfect environment to make their extraordinary transformation into butterflies, we now have 7 perfect chrysalises just waiting to complete their life journey.

Our first transformation happened two days ago. It was the most perfectly perfect monarch butterfly. We let him go in our backyard. He spent several hours perched on a branch of a bush. I know it was just my imagination, but it seemed that somehow this gorgeous creature felt a bond with our family and was hesitant to say goodbye. I checked on him periodically until eventually, he was no longer there.

I am so happy that I didn't squash the enthusiasm of my little girl and her obsession with these amazing creatures. What an awesome experience we are all blessed to be having:)

Our Beautiful Monarch

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