The Butterfly Effect

The kids have been really into bugs this summer, collecting roly polys, caterpillars, spiders, cicadas, and any other creepy crawlies they can get their cute little hands on.  As someone with a lifelong, crippling fear of bugs, this has presented an interesting parenting challenge.  But I refuse to let my phobias interfere with their passions, so I've been trying to encourage their curiosity.  (Although I do require that all collected bugs remain on the outside deck and not in the house.  Everyone has their limits.)

To encourage my budding little entomologists, we ordered a "butterfly garden" kit, whereby we received the tools to grow and nurture our very own butterflies.  Our caterpillars came in the mail and were pretty self-sufficient until they spun their chrysalides.  Then we had to transfer them into a butterfly holding net.  Daddy (who has much steadier hands than Mommy) helped the kids complete the transfer.

Getting ready.

Cleaning off all the silk strands and frass from each delicate chrysalis.

Proud of their homegrown chrysalides.

Once we made the transfer, it was just a waiting game until our butterflies emerged.  And emerge they did.  Five beautiful painted lady butterflies!  We fed them fresh fruit and flowers sprinkled with sugar water for a few days while they strengthened their wings.  And then it was time to set them free.

We wanted to make sure they had a good home, with lots of flowers to drink from, so we took our butterflies to Lincoln Park Zoo, which has a big, beautiful garden near the main entrance.

Before we opened the net, the kids gave each butterfly a name: Spot, Flutter, Moth, Butterfree, and Flower-Sucker.  Yep, Flower-Sucker.

One by one, the butterflies set off to explore their new home.

The last two butterflies, however, were somewhat more reluctant to fly the coop.

One of them clung to Aaron's fingers for several minutes before finally letting go.  Aaron was sure it was the one he'd called Moth.

Another one (Spot) clung to its flower so Danny picked it up and offered it a few words of encouragement.

Eventually, even Moth and Spot were carried off by the wind.  Aaron was pretty emotional about it.  He shed quite a few tears for his bygone butterflies.  And for the rest of the day, the kids kept exclaiming that they were sure they saw Moth landing on the handle of our stroller, or beating his wings against the window of our living room, asking to come back home.  The lesson we learned from this experience is that it's hard to let go of something so beautiful, even if it's the right thing to do.  Oh, and we also learned that butterfly poop is red, to which the kids responded, "Butterflies are so beautiful that even their poop is pretty!"