Natalie brought home an addition to our family last Monday. She found him during recess and proceeded to stick him in a bug catcher and keep him. In the car on the way home she said, “We need to name him. What’s a good boy name?”
“Natalie. Let’s name him Natalie.” Ainsley chirped.
“That’s not a boy’s name.” Natalie said.
“Oh. (pause) Let’s name him Ryan!” Ainsley suggested.
“How about George?” Natalie said.
“Yeah, George.” said Ainsley.
And that is how George the cricket came to be part of the family.
Ballet is on Monday afternoons so when Natalie said she wanted to bring him, I said it was okay. I stopped by the house for a second and during that time Natalie proceeded to open George’s cage to feed him (on the front stoop after being disappointed I wouldn’t let her open the cage in the car or house). You can guess what is coming next… I came out of the house to find a crying Natalie.
“George got away,” she sobbed.
Being the loving mother I am I went back to the spot where George hopped out of the cage and quickly found him hiding under the bush, at least I think it was the same cricket. He looked the same anyway. And okay, I didn’t look for him because I’m loving, I looked for him because telling Natalie to just forget about it wasn’t worth the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would ensue.
I pointed out to Natalie where George was sitting. She cheered up immediately and grabbed him before he could hop away.
“Careful, sweetie. You’re damaging his leg.” I said cringing as she squeezed his one leg at an angle that didn’t look comfortable.
“Oh, sorry, George. I didn’t mean to damage your leg.” she said.
In addition to the manhandling, there were rocks in George’s bug catcher… “for him to sit on.” As Natalie jumped up into the car, the rocks bounced around. I could see George was in for a rough night. Upon our return home, Natalie wanted George to have a bigger cage and begged me to make one of my disposable tupperware containers into a nice new home for him. He was already looking a little peaked. “If he is still alive tomorrow, he can have one of my containers. But not until then.”
George was alive the next morning and all of this week. Natalie said things all week like, “Where’s my pet?” or “You wanna pet him?” Ainsley would often walk through the room where his cage sat and say, “Hi, Deorge!” and keep going. (so cute, believe me on this one) On Friday, Natalie found out I was going to be at home for a few hours and said, “George can stay with you, mom. He won’t die. Make sure you give him some water.” I was honored she trusted me so much.
We got sidetracked this weekend. I just found George (in his cage still) on the kitchen table. He’s resting peacefully.
(c) 2016 Leighann Marquiss
Comments (7)
You have great storytelling abilities! I hope Natalie won’t be too traumatized when she finds that George is “resting” peacefully!
~Wendy
Is “resting peacefully” the same as sending Fido to the farm to play?
RIP George or just taking a Nap? 🙂 the “Hi, Deorge” got me! Love you!
love the update!!! I hope Natalie is ok when she hears about George “resting.” Hope she’s not to devastated. I like that Ainsley wanted to use her siblings names. To cute!!! RIP George!! You will never be forgotten.
Probably wouldn’t be that hard to find another “George” under a bush or rock outside 😉
that is SO cute! maybe this type of thing runs in the family. I did have a pet cricket in 1st or 2nd grade. he was missing a leg if i recall, probably because of too much manhandling. 🙂
katie
Leighann when we first moved to Kansas there were so many crickets around our house, and my girls always freaked out at them…and so did I.
My husband traveled a lot and so he wasn’t there to rescue us girls from the creepy crickets. I was always finding them in the house and I would throw something over them and then step on them…and they would crunch! Ick!!!!
I can’t even imagine keeping one as a pet. (:>)
I guess you meant he wasn’t alive anymore when you said he was resting peacefully?!? I hope your little bug catcher doesn’t take it too badly.
Love, Linda @ Truthful Tidbits