Last week, I saw on the news that the monarch butterflies are migrating to Mexico for the winter and so the newsman was telling us that we might be seeing more butterflies in our gardens! I thought it was cool but didn't think too much about it because it's not like I was going to sit on my front porch just waiting for a butterfly to come along! This week, though, the boys were playing in the back yard while I was making dinner when I heard the back door open. Usually when the boys are playing outside and one of them comes in to tell me something or show me something they come bursting through the door at full speed screaming "Mama! Mama!" but this time the door squeaked open slowly and I heard Ashtyn whispering "Mom...Mom..." Odd. I turned around and Ashtyn was creeping into the house obviously eager to tell me something! Ashtyn whispered with excitement, and a HUGE smile on his face, that he and Maddox had found a butterfly in the backyard!!!! I instantly thought of the news story I had seen days earlier and got a bit excited myself. I went into the backyard and there on the grass was a bright orange monarch butterfly!! Maddox was standing very still next to the swing set and Ashtyn was creeping across the deck, next to me, so as not to scare our little friend away. I crept as close as I could to the butterfly without being too loud and then told the boys to stay still and quiet and I was going to go get my camera. I came back a moment later ready to take pictures all the while explaining to the boys that I had just learned about the migrating butterflies and telling them how cool it is that one of those butterflies took a pit stop in our yard on his way to Mexico!! I zoomed way in and took a pic of the butterfly on the grass and then told the boys to QUIETLY scoot in a bit closer to the butterfly so that I could take a picture of the boys with the butterfly and they did. The butterfly was not even scared away!
Surprisingly, the butterfly wasn't even scared when Maddox knelt down next to it to get a closer look!!
It wasn't until Maddox literally CHARGED at the butterfly with a tennis racket in hand about to poke it and see what would happen when it dawned on me...the butterfly couldn't be alive!! Oh no!! How was I going to break this to the boys!! I was suspicious when the butterfly wasn't afraid as Maddox got so close to it earlier but then after the charge and yell I knew something wasn't quite right. Luckily, for me anyway, it didn't take long for the boys to figure out exactly what I had noticed already. Ashtyn was the first one to ask "Is he dead mom?"
I had to explain to the boys that, yes, the butterfly wasn't alive and Ashtyn was pretty sad. He asked if a "bird had attacked him?" and I told him "probably so". Maddox, on the other hand, instantly picked up the butterfly and examined it. He felt its wings and carried it around. We finally put our friend in a jar for daddy to see when he came home.
I couldn't help but laugh at myself, and my boys, for how seriously cautious we had been when we thought we had found a live, migrating butterfly!! We were so quiet and creeping all around the yard to get good pictures and all the while that butterfly wasn't going anywhere!! Ha!! It was a fun discovery, though, and definitely a memory that will last a lifetime!!
2 comments:
Nate said, "mom why does it look like that?" "because he is holding it by the wing" "oh that is cool mom" "mom" "yes" "when we move can we move to Texas I wanna see them again" LOLOL
Aaawww! That's cute! Every time we talk about "Texas" Ashtyn says "Oh! That place we met a new friend!?" He never remembers Nate's name but he knows that they are friends! :)
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