My kid likes creepy crawly things.

During the summer AW started showing an interest in bugs.  He'd ask questions about different kinds of bugs, look for bugs outside and ask to touch them (and get stung by them and make me feel bad for not warning him that dead ones can still sting)...  

He would spend entire hour long car rides asking me to list every kind of bug I could think of...twice and three times over, we played many games of "you be a bee and I'll be a mosquito" and buzz around the room. It all seemed like harmless little boy curiosity at first.  Kansas is a pretty buggy place and our house is a very happy place for huge spider webs, crickets, ladybugs so it all seemed normal. 

But the phase never seemed to end.  We talked about bugs day and night.  Night and day.  We watched many national geographic movies on bugs which then had to be banned because bugs are very violent and gross creatures.  

We went to an extreme bug exhibit.  

We caught a moth and kept it as a pet for an hour.

We felt bad for a stupid bug that we found caught in a spider's web outside one day and set her free and named her Julie only to have Julie jump on my ankle and bite me.  Julie was apparently a thrip and thrips are biters.  I was not a fan of Julie.  And I will never feel bad for any stupid bug again.

We bought lots of bug books.  

AW poured over any books that had bugs in them and then started taking non-fiction books out from the library.  He would spend hours looking at them over and over and memorizing all the types of bugs.  I have read so many bug books in the last few months that now I know entirely way too much information about them.  In fact, I know that not all bugs are actually bugs.  Most are in fact, insects.  And did you know spiders and scorpions are not bugs or insects?  Right, they are arachnids.  

But that's not really where the problem lies...we know much more than how many legs and eyes and body parts different insects and bugs and arachnids have...we know more than the common cute ladybug, butterfly, caterpillar, and bee varieties of insects.  We know that dung beetles eat poop, that spiders inject venom into their prey to liquify them and then drink them, that wolf spiders carry their little wolf spider babies on their backs, that praying mantises eat their boyfriends, that bedbugs, lice and ticks drink our blood,  that flies spit on food to liquify and drink it and also put their poop-covered feet on it, that giant camel spiders, giant hornets, giant cockroaches all exist...and so many other really, really, really gross, diabolical, and horrifying things. 

Here is AW in the "bug" section checking things out.  

Don't try to steer him towards the horse or unicorn section, mom.  Not happening.

Here's an overly informative and blood-curdling children's book on spiders...let's bring that one home to read before bedtime...

For some reason AW really likes the "bitey" types of bugs...mosquitoes, ticks, spiders, scorpions, wasps, fire ants, etc.  And did you know these bastards are pretty heartless creatures? And did you know there are types of wasps called tarantula hawks who attack tarantula spiders, paralyze them, drag them back to their lair and lay eggs in them and when their babies hatch they eat the spider...all while it is still alive?  Yes, I do now know these things.  And I can not "unknow" them.  It has been a long few months of creepy crawlies...Halloween certainly didn't help matters...but I'm really hoping the glimmer of happy Christmas elves and lights and snowflakes will soon change the tide to another area of interest...please...