Pill Bugs

Apparently Emily is very desperate for a pet. Lately, she has had a big interest in pill bugs and they seem to have a big interest in her, too. One day at school, she had a pill bug crawling on her hand when it suddenly decided to have it's babies. So, she had the mama pill bug and all five of its little white babies on her hand. She was so excited. I said, "Are you sure they were babies? Maybe it just pooped on you." But no, she confirmed that they were crawling around and her teacher helped her put them into a container with some dirt.

Lovingly showing off some of her bug friends

She was so inspired that she came home, put some dirt into a plastic container and started hunting for pill bugs to add to it. A few days thereafter, we ate dinner outside at a restaurant that had easily accessible flowerbeds. As we ate, she began her search and ended up coming home from the restaurant with thirteen more pill bugs to add to her dirt. She added sticks and decaying leaves to give them some excitement. This was a couple of weeks ago and she has been diligently checking on them, spritzing the dirt with water, and leaving old banana peels for them to eat.

A couple nights ago I asked her how they were doing. She got a bit sad and said, "I think I might have to let them go. I was looking for them and I saw one that was dead." I agreed that they might be better off in nature. It was tough for her, but last night she emptied out the container so that any living pill bugs could crawl to better places. Fear not, though, she immediately refilled with new dirt, went to another area, and began a new pill bug collection. Perhaps these will fare better. :)

Other than excitement with pill bugs, Emily is anxiously awaiting the end of the school year. Next Thursday is the official last day, but I think everyone is already checked out. They had a field trip yesterday and have a day of games tomorrow, so clearly the transition to summer has already begun. Of course, from a weather perspective, summer has long since arrived and the kids are regularly in the pool on the weekends. As for summer camps, Emily and Abbie will both start with a tennis/swimming camp, which will give them the chance to swim in a much bigger pool with a real deep end. I think they are both looking forward to that.