The kids received 5 caterpillars for Easter this year.
It was so fun to watch fat fuzzy caterpillars munch and much all day. Then to watch them turn into tight shiny chrysalises, and then emerge into butterflies. The most amazing thing for me was watching the chrysalises shutter as the caterpillars were doing their transformations. It all happened so fast, we had to check on them multiple times a day!
In fact, we didn't get them into the butterfly house until the first one started to emerge. Darin wasn't home when it happened, so Bub and I had to transfer the one which was already halfway out and the other 3 chrysalises by ourselves. It seemed to go okay, but I did bump the new butterfly which caused me to worry.
All the butterflies did fine, except for that first butterfly, one of his wings was bent a bit so he couldn't fly. I'm not sure if it was because of the transfer or not, but I couldn't help feeling responsible.
Bub named him "Hurt Wing", Miriam tried to change it to "Crook Wing" but we all called him "Hurt Wing" (Bub has a stuffed Dolphin named "Dolphiny" and a cat named "Catty" he is a very literal kid:).
Because he couldn't fly, the kids could let him crawl all over without fear of losing him.
When Tatum came to visit we decided to let them free with the idea that we would keep "Hurt Wing".
3 of the butterflies immediately flew into the air, and just like we suspected Hurt Wing did a fluttering hop but he couldn't fly away. Darin decided to try and push his wing behind the other (the way it was suppose to be). I figured we didn't have much to lose since he couldn't fly as it was.
I couldn't believe it when, after Darin pushed the little wing back Hurt Wing took off into the sky....higher than any of the other butterflies had gone!
I burst into tears, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
I was so happy for the little thing!
