Catty

Elena got her first pet this week. On Tuesday Kevin found a caterpillar on the deck and Elena claimed it as her own. It's a girl and her name is Catty. We went to library and looked her up. She's a tent caterpillar - interesting stuff actually. They don't make their cocoon and turn into a little brown moth until mid-to-late summer, so I talked with her about the fact that we couldn't keep her until then because of the move.
Elena was the most attentive owner you've ever seen. Catty got new leaves each day, we cleaned the droppings out of her bug keeper (Thank you dollar section of Target!), and spritzed water in there once/twice a day. Of course her favorite thing to do with her pet was to let her crawl all over her and get exercise. It was really adorable: "Catty, I'm going to sit your cage right here, so that you can smell the dinner that we are eating." "Do you like crawling on my arm, Catty?" "Catty, it's bedtime. Would you like to come in my room where it's nice and dark?"
Sweet Catty started to get homesick last night, and I noticed that she wasn't eating for the first time since we got her. Today she hardly moved, so I talked Elena into letting her free. Elena could see that Catty wasn't doing well and wasn't hardly moving at all, but still she was so sad to let her go. I felt terrible that Elena was crying, but I thought it better that Catty get to die/live in the wild rather than in a little plastic container in Elena's room.

Can you see the love and pride in the pictures above? She's enjoying showing Catty off. Hopefully all our sweet caterpillar needs is a little fresh air...