Fruit Inspection

I understand that having boys means dealing with things I’d just rather not. Things like monster truck rallies, movies featuring Transformers, the purchase of jock straps, and the like. I knew that one day I would be fielding questions about his desire for a pet snake and how cool it would be to feed it mice.

Excuse me while I stop to shiver.

Savannah has always been a girls’ girl. From the time she held an opinion, which was very early on I might add, she has refused to wear pants. Pink is the queen of all colors and anything is possible when she’s wearing a crown.

But lately, she has delved into the creepy boy territory. Today she asked me to come and meet Milly. I imagined a new stuffed animal friend sitting among the others at an imaginary tea party. Instead, she showed me this:

And this isn’t the first time. Last week she caught a worm and a baby toad. The problem to me isn’t so much that she likes to play with them. She wants to keep them. As in…forever. In our house. Like pets.

And she really cares for them. Loves them to death as a matter of fact. When she caught the baby toad, I tried and tried to tell her it would be better off under the shade of a ornamental bush. She insisted she could take good care of him. Feed him and play with him. A few hours later she showed him to me in her hand and assured me he was sleeping. I debated whether or not a 5 year old needed to know the definition of rigor mortis.

Today the millipede is hanging in there pretty well. Can you see her above in the cradle? Surrounded by food and placed under the princess tent as protection from the dog? A few minutes ago Savannah came in here with Milly and a pink satin blanket and announced that they wanted to watch a movie together.

On the one hand, I don’t have the heart to squelch Savannah’s natural interest in the things around her. Even the creepy things. In my house. But on the other hand, I wonder how many of these critters she will torture in the name of love? I guess only time will tell.