Sorry for another entry in one day, but the other one was already epically long.
A few days ago, the kids were sitting at the table waiting for dinner. Bea started whining that Enoch was trapping her. I pointed out to her that she wasn't trapped and the various places she could go. Her reply was a whiny, "I don't love Enoch anymore!"
Now, the kids say this kind of crap on a regular basis, and Enoch doesn't usually react to it, so I was surprised when he started crying genuine, heartbroken sobs.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Bea doesn't love me anymore," he cried.
...Then Bea starts crying.
"Why are you crying?" I asked her, even more bewildered.
"Because Enoch doesn't love me anymore," she cried.
So there I was, surrounded by heartbroken children that both thought the other didn't love them anymore. As they covered their faces with their hands and cried, I had to cover my own face and laugh lest I join in the sobbing. Then I gathered them up in a big hug, reassured them that everyone here loved everyone else, and tried to get them to say it. Enoch agreed that he loved Bea readily enough, but Bea, despite being sad at the thought that Enoch didn't love her, would not apologize or say that she loved him. After some discussion of feelings and how sad she'd been and how sad he was and all that, I issued the apologize or go to your room ultimatum. She refused, so I picked her up and started heading down the hall. She decided this needed to be accompanied by a banshee wail of death from her the whole way. Days like this I'm so glad we're set back from the road so busybody neighbors don't call the cops saying I'm murdering my children.
Today, while taking Bea to preschool, Enoch found a box elder bug. I'm not sure what about this one caught his attention. They're incredibly common and he's never shown any interest in them before. This one, however, he was determined to take home and make a pet. I tried to convince him to let it go, more because I thought the way he was holding it was going to lead it to death and then despair on his part, but he was adamant about keeping it. I helped him by holding it while he was hooking up his seatbelt in the car, and to my surprise, it was still alive. Though he'd been holding it squished between his thumb and index finger, he'd been doing so gently enough that it showed no sign of damage. So now I have a jar on my table with grass and a box elder bug and I'm getting questions about whether they eat grass, drink water, and have feelings, none of which I know the answer to. I probably should read up on them. Maybe I'll find out something amazing about them that will make me admire them even as I'm annoyed with them, much as I did with earwigs.
Also, the UDSA sucks. I'm trying to find caterpillars to order so we can raise butterflies again. I'd love to have monarchs since their caterpillars are awesome. The USDA won't allow them to be shipped to any states west of the continental divide. This is stupid. I caught a monarch here in my mom's yard during my bug collecting phase. It was in fact what ended it, because I mounted it improperly and I felt horrible that I'd killed such a beautiful animal and then had it go to waste. So there absolutely are monarchs here, but I can't get them shipped in. :(
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