If you've known me for any extended period of time, you know that I have a strong passion and love for raising Monarch butterflies. I get them when they are eggs and watch them go through the amazing changes into a butterfly, and then release them. Every year that I've taught, I've done this with my Kinder kids. They love it! The last two years, I've had to order caterpillars online because my "secret field" that I get them from hasn't had very many eggs, but I still use that field for the milkweed to feed the caterpillars. Well, when going out there last week, we found a couple of eggs on some of the milkweed plants. We kept one at school and I brought one home. Austin is just as fascinated with it as I am, and I thought it would be neat to have one at home. So, here it is in egg form. Meet Carlos...
Yes, that little white speck next to
AB's finger is Carlos (my husband named him). This goes to show just how teeny tiny these eggs are. I can't wait until AB gets a little older to understand the whole life cycle, but until then we'll just take her picture next to each stage of the caterpillar's life, just for grins.
After doing this for five years, I've learned so much about it just from reading books and researching it on the
Internet. Every year when I get new caterpillars, it never fails that I am, once again, in awe of the amazing life cycle of a caterpillar to butterfly and it's neat to see God's hand in every little part of it. For example, the Monarch and the milkweed plant. Did you know that milkweed is
poisonous to almost every single animal and insect that ingests it? Except for Monarchs. The Monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweed plants, and I always think to myself, "How can they spot milkweed when they're flying around?" It's not an easy plant for me to spot, and I know what I'm looking for year after year. The stripes on a Monarch caterpillar give a warning to predators that it is
poisonous to anything that tries to eat it. It's like God gave a lot of time and thought to how this precious and fragile insect can stay protected from it's predators. Anyway, it's one of my most favorite things, and I hope AB will have the same love and appreciation for it that I do.
After our picture with Carlos, it was bedtime, and Daddy had to sneak in his bedtime kiss. More pictures with Carlos to come...
Yes, that little white speck next to AB's finger is Carlos (my husband named him). This goes to show just how teeny tiny these eggs are. I can't wait until AB gets a little older to understand the whole life cycle, but until then we'll just take her picture next to each stage of the caterpillar's life, just for grins.
After doing this for five years, I've learned so much about it just from reading books and researching it on the Internet. Every year when I get new caterpillars, it never fails that I am, once again, in awe of the amazing life cycle of a caterpillar to butterfly and it's neat to see God's hand in every little part of it. For example, the Monarch and the milkweed plant. Did you know that milkweed is poisonous to almost every single animal and insect that ingests it? Except for Monarchs. The Monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweed plants, and I always think to myself, "How can they spot milkweed when they're flying around?" It's not an easy plant for me to spot, and I know what I'm looking for year after year. The stripes on a Monarch caterpillar give a warning to predators that it is poisonous to anything that tries to eat it. It's like God gave a lot of time and thought to how this precious and fragile insect can stay protected from it's predators. Anyway, it's one of my most favorite things, and I hope AB will have the same love and appreciation for it that I do.
After our picture with Carlos, it was bedtime, and Daddy had to sneak in his bedtime kiss. More pictures with Carlos to come... 
2 comments:
Very cute! You're such a great mommy...bringing out all your teaching goodness for her!
how fun! Target has a butterfly raising kit that I keep looking at to experience with Aidan. His class raised butterflies at MDO, but he was sick the day they released them :( so I'd love to do it at home with him.
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