This weekend, I had a gentle reminder of just how amazing it is to see your children's eyes light up at what may be the smallest of things to you, but something much greater to them.
From the beginning....Uncle Shannon bought Ethan a ladybug habitat for Christmas and he was so thrilled that he asked practically every other day, "Mama, when are the ladybugs coming in the mail?" Papa and I had to explain that the eggs wouldn't be laid until the Spring and it would be awhile. Well, lo and behold, the first day of Spring arrived this March and again he asked (more confidently this time), "Mama, it's Spring and you said the ladybug eggs would be ready now, so where are they?" I told him that I ordered them and we just had to be patient and wait for the postman to deliver them...I thought he'd hound the postman every time we checked the mail, but luckily he didn't.
From the beginning....Uncle Shannon bought Ethan a ladybug habitat for Christmas and he was so thrilled that he asked practically every other day, "Mama, when are the ladybugs coming in the mail?" Papa and I had to explain that the eggs wouldn't be laid until the Spring and it would be awhile. Well, lo and behold, the first day of Spring arrived this March and again he asked (more confidently this time), "Mama, it's Spring and you said the ladybug eggs would be ready now, so where are they?" I told him that I ordered them and we just had to be patient and wait for the postman to deliver them...I thought he'd hound the postman every time we checked the mail, but luckily he didn't.
In the meantime, we'd been reading books from Mama's library about ladybugs and their life cycle. He thoroughly enjoyed learning about the stages of life and how ladybugs helped our gardens. He drew ladybugs on scratch paper and even pretended his bunny was a ladybug (he obviously couldn't wait!).
Finally. about two weeks ago....they made their debut in Ethan's ladybug habitat. Nine glorious eggs arrived and he and Papa quickly opened the live specimen package and emptied them into their temporary home. They read all the instructions, twice (Ethan wanted to be sure Papa didn't leave anything out!) Each day. we talked about how the ladybugs would grow and change and that we would have to release them at some point. As they sat upon the bar on the counter in the kitchen, Ethan patiently observed their every move (every 10 minutes for the first wk!) He gave us updates on their status and instructed us as to which stage of the life cycle they were in each time it changed. (I was proud of him for remembering everything that we read.)
Finally. about two weeks ago....they made their debut in Ethan's ladybug habitat. Nine glorious eggs arrived and he and Papa quickly opened the live specimen package and emptied them into their temporary home. They read all the instructions, twice (Ethan wanted to be sure Papa didn't leave anything out!) Each day. we talked about how the ladybugs would grow and change and that we would have to release them at some point. As they sat upon the bar on the counter in the kitchen, Ethan patiently observed their every move (every 10 minutes for the first wk!) He gave us updates on their status and instructed us as to which stage of the life cycle they were in each time it changed. (I was proud of him for remembering everything that we read.)
Well, the day came this weekend to release them into the world to do their job and eat all those dreaded aphids. See the photos below.
+of+lady+bugs+08.jpg)
Ethan wasn't the least bit sad to let his newfound friends go, instead his face was full of wonder and his heart swelled with pride that he'd raised something that would in turn do something good for our environment. Something so small to us, was something monumental to my 4 1/2 yr. old....a gentle reminder that life is full of little things that can make a world of difference and we need to take the time to appreciate each and every one of them.
PS: Ethan can't wait to raise another critter or two in his new little insect habitat!
1 comment:
What a cute little story. I see what i have to look forward to! Hope your summer is going well! :)
Post a Comment