...sometimes go together.

I have two daughters that I've always raised to be gender neutral. When they were born I was adamant - NO PINK. NO DRESSIES. NO FRILLY SILLY STUFF FOR THEIR HAIR. All that stuff is more trouble than it's worth (albeit cute), and is easily lost because there isn't enough hair to keep something attached. I had one SIL who insisted that A needed something on her head to indicate that she was a girl since I insisted on dressing her in OshKosh overalls. When I said there wasn't enough hair to attach anything to the answer I got was to use Scotch tape.

Excuse me? You want me to TAPE something to the head of my precious baby girl???? Are you INSANE? Yes, she is (this is the one who said I shouldn't wear an ever-present diamond necklace before 6 o'clock in the evening), but that's not the point of this.

My kids are the products of my science and nature loving DH, and myself who loves science and biology. Doesn't it make sense that they be fascinated by bugs?

Ever since they could walk, they followed bugs around. They watched ants build trails in the kitchen when we'd get invaded. They would sit and study the daddy long legs spiders under the cabinets in the kitchen making webs and eating the ants. Earwigs were funny, sowbugs (rolypoly's) were silly, and ladybugs were just plain cute.

They even have their own little bug catcher where they can keep a bug and study it from all angles (including underneath thanks to angled mirrors). That *still* comes in handy during ladybug season. Of course, they have no problems with picking up ladybugs and letting them crawl on them, so either way, it's a lesson in nature.

Then there was the spider that jumped out at A when she went to grab something off the counter (that I asked her to go get). The rather large and furry spider. The one that made her scream like I thought she'd been stabbed. The one that made me scream like *I* had stabbed her. It was, after all, my fault that she was over in that corner of the kitchen.

She's not too keen on spiders anymore. Go figure. Neither is B who ran over to find out what her sister and mommy was so scared of. They're still ok with the daddy long legs, but other spiders are not welcome in the house. Thus, DH has another job (or I do if he's not around) - he herds spiders out of the house to save us all from those fuzzy legs. He is the household Spider Wrangler. A glass and a card is all he needs and the spider is gone.

In fact, that's the same equipment for most bugs that come into the house.

We once grew tomatoes on one side of the house. They were great... except for the tomato hornworms. If you've ever seen one of those, you know that they're nasty. DH would catch them and they were in jars on my mantle for a couple of days. This did not make me a happy camper. I was happy when we transported the jars to the local perc ponds and tossed the hornworms to the geese and ducks that swam there. *I*, however, did not touch those things. DH and A had the pleasure of tossing those things.

But still, even with those gross and ugly things, A and B were still fascinated with bugs. I could swear that they were boys in another life, except B loves wearing dresses. A's best friends are boys - that makes sense in light of this - she's not easily grossed out.

They love watching sowbugs wiggle across the driveway, or rolling up when they lightly touch them after getting them to crawl onto their hands. They will catch and watch caterpillars at school for HOURS because they know that a butterfly could be the end result - therefore, caterpillars are bugs that we should be nice to when we pick them up and let them crawl on us. Ah, kid logic.

B even loved snails (that's what watching all that Blue's Clues did to her) and would catch them and put them into her sand bucket, but would get so frustrated when they wouldn't stay there. I think she still does love snails because she gets a little indignant when DH picks them up and tosses them out into the street.

Notice that *I* haven't figured into any of these insectoid touchy-feely stories.

As they've gotten older, some bugs have earned an "eeeewwwww icky" designation. I've already talked about the spiders. Earwigs are finally bugs that the kids don't like. I think their opinions changed when one crawled onto the dinner table, and another fell from the ceiling onto the table while we were eating dinner. Worms were cool once, but now they're a but icky too. Ants lost their cachet when they figured out that ants in mommy's kitchen totally wigs her out and gets her really upset.

They've also figured out how to get the vacuum out and ready for DH to plug in so that they can vacuum up the ants while he sprays the perimeter of the house. Usually they find these invasions when I'm already at work - and I rarely pass through the kitchen on my way out the door anymore. Not that I would notice ants in a semi-dark room at 5 in the morning in the first place.

They still have their favorites. Sowbugs (Roly Poly's) are still loved, as are the daddy long leg spiders - especially when they have an earwig caught in their web. A's favorite are caterpillars. She says her reason is because she can call them catties - which is what a friend of hers calls them. I think it's because she hopes for a pet butterfly someday. B loves ladybugs because she's sure they like people. She doesn't know why they might like people, but they must.

Speaking of ladybugs, every once in a while one finds its way into the house and B rescues it and sets it free outside. Sometimes it's in the backyard where there's lots of grass; sometimes it's in the front yard where the rose bushes (and the aphids) are. She's got such an affinity for those pretty little ladybirds...

...I suspect someday she'll be the ringleader of the LLA (Ladybug Liberation Army).