A bug in the hand is worth two in the bush!

Yesterday morning, I was watering my potted plants on our back porch when I noticed something green fly through the air. I looked down and saw a little green grasshopper sitting in the puddle of water.

Since my son had so much fun catching giant grasshoppers in Florida, I called for him to come check out the new creature in our backyard.

When we were in Florida this summer, Papa bravely caught giant lubber grasshoppers for Little Dude to touch and hold. At first, I was a nervous Mama and screeched when I saw my child reaching a precious fingertip toward what looked to be a ferocious man-eating bug the size of a small bird. But Papa convinced me it was an important "boy thing" to do - a critical milestone in his development. So I acquiesced and let Little Dude hold, prod, poke, and chase all the grasshoppers Papa could find.

In Florida, the grasshoppers were the size of his hand!

But now in our backyard, Little Dude nervously hovered over the bug and asked, "Is it going to jump?"

"Probably."

"Is it going to jump on me?"

I could tell he really wanted to touch the bug, but he was clearly nervous about it jumping on him. Just as he was about to reach down, the little thing jumped into the grass where his perfect green exoskeleton camouflaged him.

Without a pause, I did the unthinkable... I reached down and caught the dang thing!

Yep... my hands held a squirming, moving critter.

Thoughts were wildly running through my head: It's just a grasshopper, get over it. Ewww, that feels weird crawling in my hands. What if it poops on me?

Little Dude was super excited. But just as I was about to settled the grasshopper into his hands, it jumped onto the leaves of my potted plants.

We spent the next several minutes played "seek and touch" with the bug. I helped Little Dude stretch his hand across the plants to where the grasshopper was so he could touch it. It would jump to another plant and I would do the same thing over again.

He giggled and hopped around every time the grasshopper jumped to another plant. And I smiled because it was actually fun!

Yep, playing with bugs can be fun!

Eventually the bug caught on to what we were doing and hid under a planter. But it was definitely a great morning moment that I got to share with my son.

On the way to school, Little Dude and I called Papa to tell him about grasshopper. He was proud of me for catching it... because he knows that was definitely not something I wanted to do. Oh, the things we do for love!

Later, during a break at work, I wanted to see what kind of grasshopper it was, and I found out that it was...

...a cricket.

Shudder.

Grasshoppers are one thing, but knowing that I held a cricket... well, what's done it done. At least I have a face to put with the chirping!