I love the very small things that the kids see. Tiny things that pull me out of the routine of hurry-up-finish-your-toast-we-need-to-GO and give me a sudden moment to have conversations where all of a sudden they become people! with opinions! and not cattle to be herded to the carseats.
Teaching moments, I think they're called. Quick little things that I'm not always ready for.
The funny thing is that my kids always seem to be teaching me.
Cass is afraid of spiders. Not in a shrieking and running away sort of way, but in a fascinated/repulsed ewww sense. I am ambivalent about many bugs (the exceptions being house flies, june bugs and deer ticks*) and we've talked about how spiders homes are outside, and they eat other bugs, and it's not a good idea to crush them, etc. So for him to stop and eye a mist-outlined web and then to call it 'pretty' was a new thing. He found a dead dragonfly on the ground underneath, and decided it must have been eaten by the spider. He had an entire elaborate story spinning out when Rosey walked up and touched a single strand. Bewildered when it stuck to her finger, she decided that it was time to get into the car.
Teaching moment over. See? A fleeting thing.
The whole way into town Cass recited snatches of the Spider and the Fly.
* Seriously? Y'all don't hate house flies? Do you KNOW what they carry around on their feet? June bugs are just big and noisy and scary when they whomp! against the screens, and deer ticks? Revolting.
6 comments:
I love this post, Jess. It's beautiful to see the world anew through your child's eyes.
what an interesting picture.
Another great blog. I love to read yours!
Love it! And I always trap the spiders I find in the house and take them outside, just for the sole purpose that it can eat the ants.
Brooke -
'Zactly! I have worked at tesching both my kids to leave dragonflies the heck alone, because they're pretty and don't hurt anything, and the most important reason?? THEY EAT MOSQUITOS!
Oh, god, I loathe houseflies! They completely gross me out - they're so dirty and they're always sitting there, rubbing their nasty little legs together and you just KNOW they've just sat on a big pile of dog crap and are now leaving little bits of it all. over. the. house. Bllllleeeeuuuuuurrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh.
That's a cool picture and a great post.
Earwigs! ((((shudder)))))
And living in Miami for 2.5 years - cockroaches. ((((full body shudder))))
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