"O Cricket From Your Cheery Cry . . . "

"O cricket from your cheery cry, no one would ever guess how quickly you must die." ~ by Basho

Abby used to be really into dress-up and Barbies and all the princessy stuff. But lately, she has become obsessed with bugs.

The other day, Steve came across her and her friend, Andi (the bishops daughter), outside on the driveway torturing a cricket. They had cut it in half. Of course, he was horrified that his sweet little girl was outside torturing bugs. When he told her that wasn't nice, she said, "Its leg was broken so it had to die." The cricket was missing a leg, so they pulled off its other one (I guess to help it walk straight???). Then they cut its head off "to put it out if its misery." See, her intentions were good. At least to begin with. They ended up carrying the cricket's head around inside of an acorn cap, kind of like Jiminy's head on a platter. I'm sure it wasn't her idea; you know what they say about the bishop's kids!

Today, she came inside and told me excitedly that she'd found a whole bunch of worms (it rained last night). She said so innocently, "I put them in a cup with some water and bark, and now they have lots of friends! Except one keeps trying to get out." The nerve of that one for trying to get out! She also fed them some dirt.

A couple of hours later, when we left for school, she said a bit anxiously, "I forgot to say goodbye to my new pets."

"What new pets?"

"My worms!" (duh, Mom)

" . . . oh"

After she thought about it for a minute, she decided, "That's okay. They're probably sleeping anyway."

I guess we're the proud new family to a cup of worms!

When I came home from running errands this afternoon, she was outside digging in the dirt again, probably looking for more worms. She had a couple of leaves stuck to her nose that make her look like she's turning into a katydid - must be her budding X-men persona.