Ladybug, Ladybug

"Eighteen little ladybugs sitting in a box
One found an escape route
And then there were six!

Ladybug, ladybug happy all day.
Ladybug, ladybug fly, fly away!"

Yes, I know it doesn't quite rhyme, but hey! Life is always interesting around here - and I only have three children! Of course after last week (nursing strike, broken bottle of pink nail polish on kitchen tile and brand new Matt Maher CD swallowed by CD player) I thought it couldn't get too much more fun around here! I was wrong.

Yesterday Jacob and I hunted ladybugs on our Silver Maple in the backyard. There were bunches of them. Jacob was really loving catching the critters an stashing them in a little plastic jar I gave him with air holes in the top. By this morning our 15 ladybugs were still alive and well. I decided they would be happier if we transferred them to our other bug box that has more space and more air holes.



While I put Andrew and Nicole down for naps this afternoon, Jacob caught three more and we put them in with the others. Later this afternoon while the kids were watching a little bit of Dora, I decided to check on our buggy buddies. At first glance they all seemed to be hiding in the upper portions of the bug keeper. At second, much more careful glance, I realized that they were not hiding the box. There just weren't many bugs in the box at all. Very slowly my mind began to put together all the clues and I looked cautiously around the room. One brave bug had found an escape route through the green mesh and her friends followed. Now, I like ladybugs, but the thought of 10 or more of them loose in my house just wasn't a happy thought. I began my search. One on the chair. One on the rug. Two in the artificial vine above the door. And quite a few plastered to the windows of the back door leading OUT! As Dora played on, I caught bugs here and there and decided to relocate them outside. I recounted. I think there are still a few MIAs. I think it's time for a new bug box!