Cannon's Caterpillars

Cannon has been keeping two caterpillars as pets for the past week and a half. He was so excited to see them turn into butterflies or moths. He and Eric found a website that helped you identify which kind of creature it was going to turn into. They thought moth of some sort. But a mason jar filled with leaves and dirt isn't the best habitat for these fuzzy creatures. Every day they looked more shrunken. I talked with Cannon a few times about the caterpillars lives being at stake and suggested that he let them go so they could live. I'm not sure why I cared so much. So today, since they have been neglected for the past couple of days, I took the jar outside and let them go free -- without telling Cannon. He didn't notice until tonight. He came downstairs after being tucked in and asked if we knew where his caterpillars were. I said, "I'm sorry, they're gone." He turned and ran back up the stairs, crying his eyes out. Eric went up and talked to him first.

"I just wanted to say goodbye to them. I love them. My heart is broken."
Oh dear. So then I went up and apologized for letting them go without telling him and talked about why I did it and told him how happily they crawled around in the dirt once they were free. This helped only a little. Good thing I'm not letting him get a dog until he is 8.

ps -- Cannon had a homework assignment for the month of May to write and illustrate a story. He would not do it for most of the month, even though I reminded him almost daily, until he found something inspiring to write about -- the first caterpillar. And now it is one of the long words that he can spell.