One Ant
May 25 2010 Girl
Making her way to a slide when a black spot is noticed out of the side of her eye. A brief closer inspection affirms its identity. An ant. She takes a few steps back from her intended foothold and begins to scream for daddy, pointing, a look of worried concern embracing her sun-quenched face.
“Fy! Fy!”, she deems.
“No, not a fly”, J corrects. “Just an ant.”
“Ant! Ant!”, she continues to point and screech in his direction until it’s conclusively gone, climbing out of sight and away from the timorous girl. The area declared safe, she breathes a tension-releasing sigh of relief before she bounds off again to play.
Boy
While in the process of digging dirt, bedraggled hands and murky knees, he comes across a line of ants. Bending closer, he giddily examines their slight bodies as they scurry around the ground. A reaction completely opposite that of his sister.
“Ant! Ant!”, he exclaims in bright animation as he clomps his finger down like Godzilla to pick one up and carries it over, basking in his find. He passes the black speck from his hand to mine like a gift, concerned and amused over his new friend. I don’t have the heart to tell him that it’s squished.
“We’ll just put the ant over here”, I goad as I brush off its remains and the boy returns with voracious eagerness to search for more.
12 Responses
on May 25 2010
So cute! My tot loves bugs…especially rolly pollies. He gets miffed if they don’t roll up in a ball at his command.
So cheezy, but after reading this post I have the pink panther song in my head “Dead Ant, Dean Ant….”
Best,
Tina
on May 25th, 2010
@Tina, It’s been awhile since my kids have across rolly pollies. I’m pretty sure Buzz would be fascinated, though.
on May 25 2010
It’s funny how different kids can be on the subject of bugs. It’s a little different here. Both my son and daughter are overjoyed at the abundance of ants here. I’m the one that wants to stand and scream and have someone else deal with their removal.
.-= Marilyn´s latest blog post: Composting =-.
on May 25 2010
Oh so cute! It is funny how some kids love bugs and others do not. My daughter actually loves ants too, and butterflies, ladybugs, bees etc. But not spiders, I have to come to the rescue if she finds a spider. In our family it is Daddy who is afraid of the bugs – even flies have him spinning around declaring he is being attacked if one comes within a foot of him
.-= Aging Mommy´s latest blog post: Ode to Toodles =-.
on May 25th, 2010
@Aging Mommy, Your husband sounds a bit like me. A few years back I could have sworn there was this giant hornet attacking me. And I mean I thought it was really huge. My husband went in to investigate and found a big but still normal-sized housefly.
on May 25 2010
We love the bugs around here (we have to. I think it’s a coping mechanism.), and I have to work with Jack on not squishing – more ant hills than actual ants!
.-= Leslie´s latest blog post: pomp and circumstance =-.
on May 25 2010
Two boys in my house means lots of love for bugs and gore and dirt. This I decidedly don’t like. I’m trying to see it through their eyes, without success. I think we need an extra dose of the feminine in our house.
.-= Christine LaRocque´s latest blog post: On routines, life and strange epiphanies =-.
on May 25th, 2010
@Christine LaRocque, My older boy is oblivious. He’s too busy pretending to hunt zombies or something.
on May 25 2010
My girl is constantly obsessed with ladybugs. Not touching them, but just looking at them. She also is careful though to walk around the area, not wanting it to get closer to her.
Nice comparison b/w boys and girls in a short amount of space.
.-= Rudri Patel´s latest blog post: Congratulations . . . =-.
on May 26 2010
interesting blog:)
on May 27 2010
My daughter and older son both love ants. My daughter’s been bitten, though, which is the only reason she doesn’t pick them up. My son will learn eventually. I’m sure!
.-= Stacia´s latest blog post: They Are My Sunshine =-.
on May 28 2010
Shane’s fascinated by ants right now. He chased one around last night, exclaiming “Bug! Bug!” and wound up squishing it when he tried to pick it up. He sounded so mournful when he held out his hand to show me the squashed ant on his fingertip: “Oh no! Bug broke!”
I tend to react more like your daughter. I’m OK with ants, but if it has more than six legs, forget it. I turn into a shrieking, quivering mass of pure hysteria. It’s not pretty.
.-= Crystal @ Semi-Crunchy Mama´s latest blog post: The One In Which I Play Blogging Catch-Up =-.