Obsession

Ella is constantly capturing small
animalscreatures in the backyard and turning them into pets. Pill bugs, caterpillars (that were eating my roses), and most recently slugs. At Christmas, I bought a butterfly habitat. Incidentally, that was kind of funny. Seth and I were shopping at the Toys-U-Don't Need. I had a list of things the kids thought they might need. I also had a list of things I thought they might need, ie. educational stuff. Like a super cool butterfly habitat. Surprisingly there weren't any on the shelf. Disbelief--but figured I'd order it online for a higher price. Later, Seth saw a man holding one and approached him just as the guy said to his buddy, "Butterfly Habitat, who would want something dumb like that?" Thankfully he put it down and my brave hubby snagged it.

So...we've been eagerly waiting for the right time to order caterpillars. We ordered. They came. Not so thrilling. Little black caterpillars. In a plastic container. Sort of like what Ella does in the backyard everyday. Except I paid for this tub. They ate the gooey food in their container. We waited. Then one day we looked in and they were all suspended from the top. Soon we got to see our first chrysalis.Little more waiting and one butterfly emerged. It was truly very neat. Even for the not-nerdy bunch. This butterfly in the house thing was a dream come true for Ella. Oddly, she's terrified if they fly near her, but in the mesh cage. Heavenly.

Let the obsession begin. Day after day of butterfly viewing. Special chair pulled up to the habitat. Oh, the antics of those butterflies. Endless entertainment!

All good things must come to an end. In butterfly habitat world that would be Release Day.
One by one, all of the butterflies flitted away except one little guy. To Ella's delight we kept him, named him "Flyey" and gave him some more time in the miracle butterfly habitat. A few days later, after having the nectar buffet all to himself, Flyey made his way out into the wild, dangerous world known as Our Backyard.