lady bugs

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Elijah had just come home from preschool with his lady bug artwork when he found a lady bug in our yard.
You'd think he discovered a wad of gum or a golden ticket.
"Mommy, can we have a lady bug party?"
"When? Right now?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry. I don't think we could get everyone here on such short notice."
He manhandled, I mean, he played with lady bug for quite some time. Here is some footage.

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Then he asked me the inevitable. "Can we take the lady bug inside? Can I keep it?"

I was torn. Honestly, I love animals. In fact, the other night Shiloh told me that Deuteronomy 22:1-3 reminded me of him. "How sweet," I thought to myself before looking it up. It must be some verse about an awesome wife or godly woman or spectacular Mom or something like that, right? Wrong. Here is the verse:
"If you see your brother's ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to him. If the brother does not live near you or if you do not know who he is, take it home with you and keep it until he comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. 3 Do the same if you find your brother's donkey or his cloak or anything he loses. Do not ignore it."
Huh. Not what I was dreaming of, but not bad either. I am pretty sure he was nicely mocking my animal return policy. Whenever I see a stray dog, I try to get it into our backyard and track down the owner. Or I make a leash and go door to door. I have done this on many occasions in our neighborhood. It works out well considering Shiloh is afraid of dogs. Actually that's not true. He is only afraid of the ones with mouths. But I digress... back to the lady bug.

So the thought of couping the lady bug up in a plastic container or jar made me feel bad for the little fella. Seriously. If you were a free roaming lady bug, where the world was your oyster, would you want to go Ziplock? No! You'd want to be out hunting oysters. Plus, how do you keep the bug alive? Sure, you can throw some leaves in there, but how would the lady bug get hydrated? I kid you not. These thought went through my head. But I decided not to be a killjoy or a killladybug and told Elijah we could bring Mr. Lady Bug inside... for an hour. We went inside and Elijah exclaimed,
"I get to keep the lady bug! I get to keep the lady bug - for an Ho-ur!" Repeat phrase over and over.

This was the lady bug's crib.


Few more days and there would have been three jackets and a pink glove in there. A DLBH (dirty lady bug home). We did release him after the hour was up. I asked Elijah what the best part of having the lady bug was.
"Holding him. Holding Him. (Now singing) Holding him was the funnest part!"

Ah, to be a kid again and really enjoy the simple things. Pin It Now!

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