I spend my days trying to capture the dragonflies fluttering around my kitchen with a mason jar, making sure little green inch worms in the bug container have a good supply of green leaves and say things like “yay! it’s so wonderful you found him!!!” about creepy black beetles and crunchy, dried up worms in my two year old’s sticky hands.

And currently? I’m wondering where that gigantic grasshopper is hiding in the living room after telling the boys to keep the lid closed a million and five times. When Aidan finds him, he’ll have no problem picking him up and gently putting him back in his new home. That same gentleness shows up when he walks up to a flower and carefully pets a furry bumble bee with his pointer finger without getting stung.

This is the stuff that little boys adore, so as a mom of boys, this is what I do.

My body is still covered in goosebumps after a 2″ long grasshopper flew into my neck and scurried down my shirt, but after a few arm flails I got over it and quickly (and okay, there was a little bit of dry heaving involved) managed to get him into the bug container.

The morning sun and bug catching always makes for a great start to the day.

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