Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Harsh Lessons Of Life

My dear son (aged 5) was looking down at heal. I asked him why and he replied, in a sad whine, that his woodlice had died. (I didn't correct his grammar; I also call them woodlice when they are singular, as I don't like the word 'louse'', and I say 'a dice' too).

I'd seen him frollicking around with a woodlice in the living room the other day (in sofar as you can frollick with an insect). I didn't realise he'd adopted it as a pet. But he had. He'd put it in a tray in his bedroom and tended to its every need for a period of about 48 hours.

'It died in the night', he said. I nodded sadly. I wanted to share in his grief, but at the same time 'move him on' very quickly.

'Never mind. You can always find another one.' I said. His face lit up.

'Yes!' he exclaimed. 'Or I could find a beetle!'

As long as he remembers that in my house '0 - 6 legs: good; 8 legs: bad', we'll all be ok! (Seven legs also = bad. I take 'seven legs' as a spider that's lost a leg, not a beetle that came with an extra one).

4 comments:

Louise said...

You're lucky. Aedan didn't used to keep woodlice as pets. He used to eat them. Still alive. He'd eat the house flies dead though...

And just 'cos I'm feeling pedantic and 'cos I can, a 'woodlice' isn't an insect, it's a crustacean. (Sorry. Couldn't help myself)

I'm with on the 7/8 legged thing though.

I went to tidy the boys' bedroom today, but gave up as I suddenly became concerned at what I might find hidden in there, living. Or even dead, horrors!

Mary Beth said...

Poor kid. I don't even know what woodlice are but I'm sad for him anyway

Ruth said...

A woodlice?

Well, it's a crustacean (thanks for that Louise!) and it's an ancient creature - it kind of looks like a tiny armadillo.

Erm, does that help...?!

He's over it now. I learned the same horrible lesson when my pet hamster, Smokey, died, aged 15 (I was aged 15, not the hamster). Oh I was distraught. I was the one who found him lying in his nest, still as a stone with his eyes wide open. It really was sad, actually - it really was.

Louise said...

The same hamster you had at Woodrow Park? Wow, that's impressive.

I can sympathise though, I found my rabbit, Fiver and Cathy's rabbit, Hazel, (not at the same time) and it does leave a lasting impression. I found my dwarf hamster too, I was in my twenties then and I was still upset by it, then made it all worse when I began to wonder if he'd just been asleep...

(Can't remember his name, that's terrible.)