At Christmas I purchased a butterfly garden for KK with much glee. I thought it was one of the neatest gifts ever for kids.
I am now here to report that for this mommy, it turned out to be very creepy.
We received our caterpillars a few weeks ago, which I found to be a little bit gross. As one of my friends said: "It sounds like a little bit too much nature for me!" Then they entombed themselves into chrysalis form, which was just very bizarre and...well - creepy! My glee over this gift was turning into dismay that, as a loving and devoted mommy, I had to now follow through with this experiment for the sake of my child. Shudder. Luckily, there are things that are meant for daddies to do, and Gene willingly transferred the cocoons into the butterfly net at the proper time.
I must inform you that the cocoons do not all remain perfectly still either. Sometimes some of them would shake violently, further adding to the creepy factor. One of them did this during transfer which really freaked me out.
Finally they began to burst open, and things just got gross again at that point. The empty cocoons looked like that stuff that snakes leave behind when they shed their skin. Then, the new butterflies dumped meconium all over their habitat, which looks a lot like bright red blood.
Once they all hatched (after a few days) I informed KK that it was time to free them to the wild. Luckily she did this with joy and didn't question my timing. (No reason for her to know they could have lived in their habitat for weeks....) She did seem to enjoy the whole butterfly process and for that I am glad. But I won't be doing it again for a loooong time.
I guess you didn't inherit my love of biology. Or maybe it's the queasies from pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad KK was impressed with it all. She doesn't find many things yucky, does she?
Ohhh - and then I saw you can do the same thing for silk-worms. Already on my list for next year. I hope Caedyn gets as much enjoyment as I will. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat?! You didn't like it?! On your suggestion, I bought both this one and the ladybug one for Caedyn and I can NOT WAIT!!! I am so excited. (yeah, okay - so maybe I bought them for myself . .. ). I was going to wait until her b-day, but was worried the critters would fry in transit. We'll see if I already waited too long . . . .
ReplyDeleteI saw this at the store! Wondered how it would work... thanks for the heads up! I think it sounds kind of yucky...
ReplyDeleteOk... I laughed so hard I cried... in a coffee shop! This totally cracked me up! Being in childcare for a few years, I am very familiar with the process and how odd and kind of gross it can be, but I enjoy the full life circle and the 'being born again' analogy that always came to mind when the butterflies began to emerge.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I can see where you might be grossed out and maybe even creeped out. I'm sure you'll never look at butterflies the same again! :)
Thanks for sharing.