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Hey, Don’t Bug Me!

Mar 24th 2008Suzanne Enoch
Suzanne EnochMy Life As A Plebe

ladybug.jpgMy nephew loves insects. Bugs. Six-legged arthropods. Little antenna wigglers. I do not like bugs. Butterflies, okay. Ladybugs, I can tolerate as long as they fly away home.

But as I said, the six-year-old loves the buggies. When he was younger he would lay on the grass and hang his tongue out of his mouth – playing dead in the hope that flies would gather and he could catch them. And so I wash out my peanut jars and parmesan cheese containers and when he comes to visit me, we go on bug hunts. I’ve had to catch grasshoppers in my bare hands. Tell me, is that green stuff that always ends up on my hand vomit, or poo?grasshopper1.jpg

At home he’s raising grubs that turn into beetles, caterpillars that turn into butterflies, ants who farm, and he has various “habitats” for grasshoppers and flies and moths. He calls it “The Bug Zoo”. And I ooh and ahh over the ugly little beady-eyed ickies and hope they never get loose in the house.

butterfly.JPGNow even when I was a kid, I didn’t like bugs. But man oh man, could I ever name every dinosaur. Do all kids go through this phase of obsessing over something? Is it just boys who love bugs? What was your “thing” when you were small?

30 Comments »

30 Responses to “Hey, Don’t Bug Me!”

  1. Karen Rose on 24 Mar 2008 at 7:20 am #

    Suzanne - for me it was the planets - I could tell you everything about black holes and asteroids!

    I think you must be the sweetest aunt alive. I hope your nephew grows up to realize how really special all those bug hunts were ;-) (And I narrowly controlled myself from doing the aunt/ant pun!)

  2. Lisa H on 24 Mar 2008 at 8:13 am #

    My kids all obsess or have obessesed over different things. My daughter was into “Christy” movies and books for several years…for my oldest son it was four-wheelers and my little guy loves trains…its just natural.

  3. Kay on 24 Mar 2008 at 8:14 am #

    Bugs are my youngest son’s life—really. He has said he is going to be an entomologist since he could pronounce the word. He got glasses when he was 2, and saw bugs for the first time and was hooked. He never cared about dinosaurs, planets, etc , it has always been bugs.

    My oldest child lives for furry animals of any kind, but is crazy about dogs. When he was three, we had two cats, and didn’t think he was old enough for a dog, yet. He had an imaginary dog named “Mike” for almost two years! We finally got him a dog, and the dog promptly became my dog–the non dog person in the family. LOL

    I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid–I watched all of the space stuff on TV and loved SciFi. I was told often that “girls can’t be astronauts” and gave up the idea before HS. Thank goodness girls today know that girls CAN be astronauts!

  4. Keri Ford on 24 Mar 2008 at 8:14 am #

    Suzie, you’re a better woman than me! Bugs *shiver*. Butterflies I like, if anything else becomes too close, they are risking the bottom of my shoe.

    When I was little, horses were my thing. I could have told you everything about them.

  5. Kim on 24 Mar 2008 at 8:24 am #

    Suzie–I bow to you. Seriously, you have to be the best Aunt in the world. Bugs are something I wouldn’t touch for anyone.

    I don’t remember going through any phases as a kid but I’m sure if you asked my mom I did *g*

    My son, definitely. There was Barney. Thomas the Tank Engine. TMNT. Power Rangers. Now its guitars and cars. This kid just got his first car, from grandpa, natch. One of his buddies says that his dad has a POS firebird so the kiddo wants to know if he can trade his Taurus (that he just tuned up and put new tires on) for this POS car. Oh heck NO!

    I remember when he was studying anatomy in biology. The cat caught a mouse and when Anthony took it away from Sheriff he asked if he could dissect it. bleech. Sadly, he had a scapel and all that in his chemistry set so he was all set. He sat on the back porch, going, “Look! Its his liver.” bleech.

  6. Ronlyn on 24 Mar 2008 at 8:34 am #

    I remember catching grasshoppers to feed to our neighbors turtle as a kid. LOL That’s about the extent of my bug catching experiences. I’m not overly thrilled with bugs, but I can handle most of them. Since getting married though, I don’t have to. My DH thinks I’m terrified with spiders. I’m not, but he kills them all for me, so why spoile his fun? ;)
    My oldest is 4 and does not like bugs. At all. He flips out if an ant crawls on him. *shrug*

  7. doglady on 24 Mar 2008 at 8:58 am #

    I’ve been a birdwatcher since I was 9. There was a birdwatching group in the English village where I lived and the little old ladies hooked me on it. I kept a journal on it and everything. Bugs don’t bother me at all. They’re fascinating. Suzanne, you are a terrific aunt and I am sure your nephew will remember it. My niece and nephews think I am “DA BOMB” because I have had snakes, tarantulas, turtles, lizards and frogs as pets. I have taken them on snakes hunts. At work I am the person they call when a grasshopper or cricket or other critter gets into the store.There are grown men working at Wal-Mart who can’t deal with a grasshopper.

    There is a great BUG ZOO in the National Zoo in DC. One of its sponsors? ORKIN Pest Control. So wrong! But the bug zoo is fantastic!

  8. elsiehogarth on 24 Mar 2008 at 9:06 am #

    Bugs don’t bother me just as long as they stay away from me. But the 2 I fear are centipedes because of all those legs and that it goes very fast and also big roaches. The flying kind that they have in the Caribbean.

    I can honestly say that as little girl and still today I have always had a fascination with bats, snakes and spiders. I have never feared them and enjoy being around them.

  9. Karen Hawkins on 24 Mar 2008 at 9:27 am #

    Horses. I knew everything there was to know about them and had these little plastic horses that I played with for HOURS. I still love watching them!

    Elsie, I can’t BELIEVE you like spiders! They simply TERRIFY me!

  10. Claudia Dain on 24 Mar 2008 at 10:08 am #

    You really are the best aunt ever! Isn’t it amazing what we’ll do for the kids we love? Things I wouldn’t do for my mother, I’ll do for my child. Scary, really.

    Obsessions? You mean besides fashion and hair? Uh, I don’t remember any, but I did have a Barbie that had three different heads with three different hair styles. I played with her, and her many gorgeous outfits, for hours. Auburn pageboy was my favorite head, blond ponytail second runner up and coming in last, brunette bubble.

  11. Suzanne Enoch on 24 Mar 2008 at 10:43 am #

    KarenR, maybe you’re the one who can finally explain to me the difference between the phases of the moon and a lunar eclipse. It truly baffles me, and has become one of those things I classify as “magic”.

    Oh, doglady, my nephew would LOVE to see your menagerie. I didn’t mention the alligator lizard and the bearded dragon at his house. Maybe it’s just that he adores anything smaller than he is. *g*

  12. Marie on 24 Mar 2008 at 10:58 am #

    I was once loved bugs, but now I’m a girly girl and HATE bugs so it goes away. Hopefully.

    My thing when little was skating. Skating all the time I loved it.

  13. Karen Hawkins on 24 Mar 2008 at 11:11 am #

    SuzieE, I think the green stuff is oh, tobacco juice. Grasshopper tomacco juice.

    That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

    My kids had a thing for fishes. So we had all sorts of fishes — fantail guppies, betas, zebra fish, goldfish, and a gazillion others. He still loves them, though his golden retriever has replaced a bit of his enthusiasm.

  14. Suzanne Enoch on 24 Mar 2008 at 11:19 am #

    Oh, Kim, I hope we skip the dissecting things stage. I don’t need bug livers on my patio.

    And KarenHa, I like the tobacco juice theory. By capturing them, the nephew is trying to cure them of their nicotine addiction.

  15. ladydawgfan on 24 Mar 2008 at 11:30 am #

    It’s not that I actually like bugs, it’s just that, having lived in Mississippi, I have become rather pragmatic about them. They were everywhere down there, so you learned to live with them. And the roaches in my apartment used to use the Raid that I tried spraying around for cologne for their little roachy dates, they were so unintimidated!!

    So it became, “Oh, there’s another roach. There’s another spider. Big deal. Where’s my shoe.” THWAACK!!!! Wipe, wipe. Life goes on!!

  16. Kasey on 24 Mar 2008 at 11:48 am #

    I used to catch butterflies, caterpillars, ladybugs and fireflies as a kid. I even had a salamander for awhile and my sister had a turtle (which my dog got a hold of and chewed in half). I used to catch frogs and toads too. It is definitely something I outgrew. I am not big on amphibians anymore.

    After my bug catching days, I was really into baby-sitters club and sweet valley twins books for awhile.

  17. KariE on 24 Mar 2008 at 12:58 pm #

    So far my son hasn’t shown any real bug interest. Which is fine by me. I don’t mind normal bugs, just not thet freaky ones: Palmetto bugs and spiders. You know, the ones that Florida is famous for.

    When I managed a pet store I had to be able to do everything that was asked of the employees. That included feeding all the insect eating animals. The lizards, some fish, frogs and hedghogs all got their live protien. I shudder when I think that I actuall cleaned out the cricket bins without b*t*hing. Bleck!!! I wonder where that girl went.

  18. Margaret on 24 Mar 2008 at 1:08 pm #

    Like ladydawgfan, I’m from the South. So, bugs don’t really bother me. Snakes are a whole ‘nother thing as I can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys.
    If I think really hard back into the mists of time, I believe my son was into action figures like GI Joe before he became un-PC and Matchbox cars. My daughter had every Barbie born in the 60’s and all their teeny tiny clothes. I, in a moment of insanity, even sewed teeny tiny clothes for Ms. Roberts. You haven’t lived till you’ve stepped on her high heels or Joe’s rifle in the middle of the nite while you are in a potty hurry.

    The grandsons have all been into dinosaurs, earth moving equipment and trains. Altho one did want a python. I mercifully forget which kind. He never got it, TG.

  19. Suzanne Enoch on 24 Mar 2008 at 1:24 pm #

    KariE, I had to house sit for the bearded lizard one week, and feed it live grubs. AND feed goldfish to the saltwater fish my bil keeps. That was a bad week. And the family was on vacation in Hawaii, which made it even worse. *g*

    You know, dinosaurs were easier when I was a kid. We knew about like 10 different species. Brontosaurus, tyranosaurus — the biggies. Now so many more have been discovered, or rediscovered, I guess, that it really takes a commitment to know them all.

  20. RachelG on 24 Mar 2008 at 1:29 pm #

    I hate all bugs, but I am terrified of grasshoppers. Evil Evil insects.

    My son wasn’t into bugs that much. One of his obsessions was with foods. Like one week he’d crave green beans. The next, hot dogs. It was weird.

    rachelg

  21. KariE on 24 Mar 2008 at 2:06 pm #

    A few years after we bought our house a banana spider (3 actually) made its web between a couple hibiscus bushes and a palm tree in front of our large living room window. I hopped on the net and found out all I could about this type of spider. I realised it wasn’t going to come into my house so I let it live. Every so often I would bring home crickets and throw them into the web and watch the spiders eat the crickets.

    They are long gone now. Too bad, because I know my son would love to watch that.

  22. Paula M on 24 Mar 2008 at 2:39 pm #

    My sons have 9 stick insects that Mummy cleans out, I HATE them they are horrible when I have to move them from one cage to another they try and get their legs onto my hands YUK! They are fascinating to watch once they are safely in their cage all secure. As a child I was fascinated by butterflies and wild flowers. My boys aren’t really into bugs, the youngest is allegic to bee stings and so he tends to stay away from bugs. The oldest one likes birdwatching when he’s not obessing with his playmobil romans. The youngest is obessed with his dads tool kit - all thosehammers and screwdrivers it’s a nightmare when DH needs to do any DIY!!

  23. Nicole Jordan on 24 Mar 2008 at 3:24 pm #

    I went through a Barbie dolls stage! And my nephew went through a train obsession. That can make it easy to buy gifts, unless it happens to be a ewwwe obsession such as bugs or snakes!

  24. Julia London on 24 Mar 2008 at 3:43 pm #

    Ha, Nicole, I was going to ask if an obsession with Barbie clothes counted. That’s as close as I can get. I HATE snakes and bugs!

  25. Suzanne Enoch on 24 Mar 2008 at 4:30 pm #

    PaulaM, what do stick bugs eat? I can be fascinated by them, too, when they’re at your house and not mine.

  26. Sabrina Jeffries on 24 Mar 2008 at 7:46 pm #

    I don’t remember any obsessions beyond books. But then, we probably ALL had those! :-)

    I wasn’t bothered by bugs, though. Not sure why. We did do some butterfly and beetle hunting, and I used to like the little gecko lizards in Thailand. But not to the point of obsessiveness.

  27. Kim on 24 Mar 2008 at 9:28 pm #

    Sabrina–oh yes! All my baby-sitting money went for Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew books. My mom could never understand it. She’d say I was just wasting my money. ugh.

  28. Trisha on 26 Mar 2008 at 10:16 pm #

    Mine was Helen Keller, I could tell you her entire life history. I even got to visit her childhood home and stand where she first began to communicate with Ann. That was the greatest thing up until my first kiss…….hehehe!

    My little boy loves dinosaurs! He can’t write his address but is a walking history book of dinosaurs…..heheheh!

  29. Pesky on 27 Mar 2008 at 2:45 pm #

    Keys…my nephew Jack obsessed about keys. The girls at the hardware store would save the goofs for him so they could see his big brown eyes light up with delight and his 10 mile grin.

    It wasn’t uncommon to find Jack talking to the prettiest girl in a restaurant or at his dad’s office, asking her if she had keys and could she show them to him and what they were for. They all did.

    Keys aren’t so bad you may think…..wellllllll….

    When one is obsessed with keys and the getting of said keys, it can become an issue. When you have to lock them in a combination safe to stop him from taking your car keys and replacing it with something he thinks is of equal value…say…a matchbox car. It can get a bit distressing. Or when he takes the housekeeper’s keys and replaces them with other ones… He would always admit he took them, but finding them was a different matter.

    Now he’s 6′5″ and 16 years old and driving his own car…someday I’m taking his keys… :D

  30. Vickie on 01 Apr 2008 at 10:05 am #

    Bugs!? dear god. My god son is going through the same phase. Just a heads up, I hate all bugs. I see a cockroach, I scream and duck under the covers or jump on the couch or something, which is uselss, cause thanks to my god-son, I realized that cockroaches can fly. Only insect I like is a butterfly and that’s cause they’re pretty.

    Hmm. My thing when I was little was my collection of angel figurines. Small angel figurines are so pretty and I was obssessed with them when I was young. I would go to the shop every weekend to buy a figurine.

    Yes! SVH. I had the whole Sweet Valley High: Senior Year collection. Alas, I sold them but I remembered the series. Also read Nancy Drew, practically read one of her books each day.

    My thing now is historical romance book collection :). I have this thing of getting an author from each letter of the alphabet. Only letters I’m missing without an author is U, X, and Z.