My last blog post was about Mother’s Day. This blog post is about how I will not be in the running for the “Mom of the Year” award in 2009. 
My son Grant is 5 (going on 35). He is funny, SMART, musically inclined (thanks to his Daddy), and has an imagination that doesn’t stop! His imagination gets the best of him on a regular occasion. Lately he has decided that he is afraid of bugs. No bugs in particular, just ALL bugs. This latest phobia comes at a very inopportune time…….SUMMER!!! (Why could this not happen during the winter when there are no bugs around?) His screams can be heard across all of Marshall when even a gnat is within his personal space. Blood curtling screams erupt when a bug dares to land on his arm. He is frozen in fear when a bzzzzzzzzzzz is within ear shot. This fear had gotten to the point that he didn’t even want to play outside. So, I thought to myself “this has got to stop! We are not spending our entire summer inside. I have to figure something out!”.
I had convinced him that bugs wouldn’t bother us if we walked downtown to the toy store. He seemed to buy it and off we went. I was on a mission! I knew that the toy store downtown held the solution to my current dilemma! It was $6.95 and would afford us a summer full of days outside in the sunshine!
Grant LOVES science experiments and anything that has to do with learning about habitats. (which is why I am so puzzled about the whole bug phobia…) When we arrived at the Toy Barn I set out to find my treasure. There was one left! Hooray!! I quickly purchased it and then showed it to Grant. The “Watch Bug”. A small habitat for a bug that you can wear on your wrist like a watch! He LOVED it and immediately wanted to leave the toy store and go find a bug to put in it!
We set out on a search for the best bug we could find. Not far outside of the Toy Barn we found the biggest, fattest, carpentar ant. Perfect! I caught it, put it in the habitat and Grant walked 1 mile home with it on his wrist. Talked to it the WHOLE way home; named it (Leo by the way, in case you were wondering); told it what they were going to play when they arrived home; told me that Leo was his best friend and he LOVED bugs now! I floated home. I had solved a problem. 1 point for Mommy! YEAH!
We got home and he wanted to take Leo inside the house. I told him that we could for a little while but then we had to let Leo go because he needed food, water, the rest of his family, etc. I also reminded Grant of the small button on the habitat that if he pushed it, would open the net and Leo would escape. He promised he would not push it because he wanted to keep Leo safe. Deal. Inside we went.
Once inside I decided to run down into our basement to start a load of laundry. I was downstairs but one minute when I heard the familar blood curtling scream. I sprinted up the stairs into the living room to find the habitat open and Leo running up Grant’s arm. Grant was at this point screaming and crying. Mommy instinct kicked in. I swatted the ant to the floor and ………. squashed it. Oh crap……
“YOU KILLED LEO!!!!!!!!!”. Screams of fear turned into hiccup crying over a dead ant. “I wasn’t ready for you to squish him yet Mom! He was my pet! My best friend”.
Yup. There goes the Mom of the Year award, right out the front door with a flat Leo the Ant.
Very cute story! I might have to get one for my boys!