Meet Buddy

Char's newfound love of worms and other insects should have clued me off that we would have a new pet. Meet Buddy, an inchworm or caterpillar of some kind anyway. We read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" (or "paterpiwwar" as Char says) often enough that i hope she isn't disappointed when her "beautiful futterfy" turns out to be a plain old moth lol.

Char named him "Buddy". Probably because i was saying things like "Come on, buddy" lol. She is in LOVE with this caterpillar! She wants to look at him constantly, and she even wrote him a song. i'll see if i can get it on video. It is a little hard to tell if she's saying "buddy buddy buddy" or "buggy buggy buggy", but she's definitely singing him a song. It's sooooo cute! (Here it is!)

We've already had one "is he dead?" scare. i came home from work at lunch (dizzy, whatever), and Buddy wasn't moving. He had also pooped or something and it made it look like his back end was squished and fried, like maybe it got too hot in the window somehow. However, it would seem that eating and pooping were pretty exhausting and he took a little nap, because he woke up and resumed eating. Whew!

i will reassure those of you in the Southeast that Buddy is the ONLY insect we will be taking on as a pet this summer. That's right; there will be NO FREAKING CICADAS in my house if i can help it. OMG i hate those things, and they've already been emerging at our house, leaving their nasty molted shells everywhere and driving me crazy. And i REFUSE to walk barefoot or let Char walk barefoot outside anymore.

i have such horrible memories of the 13-year cicadas from the first time i encountered them when i was 9 almost 10 years old. It was the first spring after my family moved to the Nashville area from Knoxville, and i was miserable. i felt like this new place was cursed or something. Thankfully i was in Memphis 13 years ago and they don't emerge as much there, but i'm bracing for a horrible spring.

P.S. A few hours later and i'm having my second "is he dead?" scare. He's not moving and was partially submerged in water. i may be doing a lot of searching on that tree for subsequent Buddies!