Beety

A couple of days ago, the boys found a bug crawling across the living room floor. To me, a bug is a bug is a creepy crawly little thing to squish and flush. To them, it is a newfound pet. They asked what it was, I looked it over, and told them (as I do with any bug with a hard shell type thing) that it was a beetle. He was adopted immediately, and henceforth named "Beety."

First off, they made Beety a home. Chris got a giant piece of heavy paper and proceded to draw and cut out a castle. They got a fresh leaf for him to dine on, and a bottlecap of water for when he thirsted. Chris made him a paper bed and paper pillow.

Beety headed for the vent, where the boys intervened and saved him from freezing to death at the grip of the steady flow of arctic air.

Time for lessons. The boys, knowing that swimming is an important skill that everyone should learn, next filled six or seven bowls and jar tops of varying sizes with varying levels of water. Chris built paper ladders to help Beety climb in and out of the water, and fashioned a towel out of the same paper for when Beety's lesson was finished. He actually rolled that little bug up in the tiny piece of paper and carried him around that way.

What we learned: "beetles" actually can swim -- pretty fast. They also must have at least four lives, because I was pretty sure he had drowned a few times, only to dry out and scuttle into his castle. They are also very hard to find when dropped on an oriental rug.