"Pets"

Today Chloe asked if she could give her pet Liv a bath. Normally I would encourage my children to be responsible and would be thrilled. But in this case, I told her no.

No, I don't think crickets need baths.

But she's dirty. And off Chloe goes to prepare Liv the Cricket a bath.

It's no surprise that our "pets" don't live much more than a day. While I do not encourage the collecting of them, I did provide a receptacle in which to hold them. You would have done the same had you been the one to discover a cricket in a little pants pocket.

The girls are fascinated lately with bugs, spiders, flies, bees... really any critter from outside. Their favorites, based on abundance in the backyard, are crickets and mosquito eaters, but we have also been fortunate to have a preying mantis, a beetle, a caterpillar, and a bee. Our "pets" are often found "sleeping," though we have only had one burial, and being "awake" is not prerequisite for making it into the collection.

Now, I do believe in setting boundaries and that boundary came yesterday when Hadley rounded the corner saying there was a crab in the house.

A crab?

Hadley found herself a scorpion and trapped it under a cup.

No, there will be absolutely no scorpions in our "pet" collection. So in true boy style, Braden scooped it up, took it outside, and burned it with a lighter...

all to the sounds of Hadley protesting in the background.

I'm thinking pet crickets in pockets aren't so bad anymore.