Proud Little Mama

Little Ella loves Bugs.  In fact she loves all kinds of little critters.  Little Pet Shop friends.  Squinkies.  Little trinkets.  Just little things she can carry around.

Anyway, she loves bugs.  Don't ask me where she got this from.  Definitely not from me.  I detest bugs.  Maybe from my dad?  If he finds a bug in the house he will catch it and release it outside.  I will kill it so it can't find it's way back into my house.  Or, if I'm too afraid to get close to it, spray it with the can of starch.  (Hey, I was ironing in the basement and that's all I had and I didn't want it to get away.)

Back to Ella.  She loves bugs of all sorts so I bought her this little butterfly house.   We had to send in a card and they sent five caterpillars in a little plastic cup with some food.

Day One

 Day Three

Four of the five caterpillars ate a lot and grew quite quickly.  We were surprised every time we looked at them at how big they were getting.  One of them was the runt of the group and was really small.  We were half expecting one of the other ones to eat him.  (Are caterpillars cannibalistic?)

Finally four of them climbed up to the lid of the cup and made a chrysalis.  So we moved them to the butterfly house.  We left the little runt behind in the cup.  He is there right now as I write this, growing quite big.

This is the butterfly house hanging in the girls room.

Two of the Chrysalides

So four Chrysalides have been hanging out in this butterfly house for quite a while now.  I was starting to wonder if maybe they had died.  Everyday Ella would ask me "When are they going to turn into butterfly's?"  "Soon dear!"   At least that's what I kept hoping.  Today I was in the girls room, putting something away and I heard a tiny fluttering noise.  I glanced in the direction of the butterfly house and there were two butterfly's!!  I called for Ella who of course took her sweet time responding.  She finally came in and when she realized what had happened she was soo excited.  She called her grandma Clara and asked me to call her dad at work.  She even showed Grandy (our dear friend and neighbor)

Ella likes to point out that the butterflies are plain when their wings are closed but very pretty when they are open.  They are Painted Lady butterflies. 

She is now anxiously watching the other two chrysalides hoping to catch them opening up.  And of course the other guy is still in the cup all by himself.  But hey, at least he didn't get eaten right?