Bug Discoveries

"I wanted to know the name of every stone and flower and insect and bird and beast. I wanted to know where it got its color, where it got its life - but there was no one to tell me. " -George Washington Carver

One of the best things about having a house is how much Maeve gets to go outside.  I just read yesterday that only about 50% of preschool-aged girls in America spends enough time outdoors, and that it's really important for their development.  Well, Maeve has no trouble there, at least when it's pretty decent weather.

Due to certain influencing factors (her grandfather and Elmo), Maeve has a keen interest in the 6-legged world.  At our new place she has already spotted a ladybug, ants, and a butterfly.  She still points out to me the tree where we saw the ladybug a week ago, and exclaimed that the ants were 'tiny', and then tried to exercise enough self-control not to squish them.  She chased the little white butterfly a few feet before it completely eluded her.

But yesterday, on the greenbelt behind our neighborhood, she found a bright green fellow which I informed her was a grasshopper.  She leaned way down and reached for him, as I was thinking, Okay, buddy, here comes my toddler, if you have any sense at all, you'll hop away before she gets too close.  Hop, c'mon, hop!  But as it turned out, the grasshopper was past hopping.  Maeve got a few good pokes in, and I realized that he had shuffled off this mortal coil, so to speak, so I quickly found something else to get her interested in.

She kept going back to him, trying to rouse him.  Greenhopper! Greenhopper!  But to no avail.  Luckily, we found some ducks to inspect further down the path.  Which is good, because I am not ready to explain death, even insect death, to my baby just yet.

In an unrelated picture, Maeve catches up on the letter D.