Monday, January 17, 2011

Worst Surprise Ever

This afternoon, Ava and Nate wanted to go swimming. We got them all ready and greased up with sunblock. All that was left was to put Nate's swim shirt on. I'd washed it this morning, and it was still hanging on the line outside. So, we all trooped out there. I got it--actually, I'd draped it over the clothes basket to dry--and began the laborious process of getting it on him.

It's long sleeved, and stretchy of course. Putting a long sleeved, lycra top on a boy with sunblocked arms is never easy. But who said life would be easy?

As I'm slowly inching the sleeve down over his arm, there's this crinkly, plastic noise. "Nate, what are you holding in your hand?" I asked him. He's known to secretly clutch things in his fist for hours at a time, after all. This morning it was 3 small volcanic rocks that I discovered when we arrived at his speech appointment. So I wondered what it was this time--whatever it was, it was sure making it hard to get his shirt on. "I don't know," he replied. Hmmm.

Finally, his fist came through the opening of the sleeve and he opened it. And this was in his hand:


Ewwwwww!!! And it was alive!! (The bug, not the clothespin, of course.) He and I both screamed, and he flung it from his hand as hard as he could. Then he burst into tears. Obviously, this gimormous bug had found a home in Nate's shirt while I'd left it to dry. The wings are huge--that's what had made it sound like something wrapped in plastic.

He clung to me for a moment, all 5 year old boy bravado momentarily abandoned. "I'm sorry buddy," I said. He wailed through tears, "I thought it was a lolly! I thought it was a lollyyyyy!!"

And I thought, here is a child that is only used to the good kind of surprise. Who else would assume that a large, unseen object in your hand is a lolly, miraculously appearing in the sleeve of your swim shirt? Nate assumes that life is just this good to him. I found that sentiment funny and sweet, and a little heartbreaking--as I guess a mama would.

Needless to say, I think we'll all be a little more cautious from here on.

13 comments:

  1. That was probably the last non-deadly insect in Australia, and now it 's dead.

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  2. Bless him!! That is the worst lolly substitute ever!

    But I tell you, I was relieved because I was prepared for it to be one of the million poisonous spiders you have there. Maybe leaving their clothes out in that wilderness is not a good idea!

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  3. Circada, people. Totally non~venemous, people user friendly & a prized collectable when I was a child. That one's a tadpole. The big ones are the size of a baby's fist!

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  4. That's a cicada?? I had no idea they were that big! I'm not exactly a bug person, in any form. The flying cockroaches of my childhood settled that!

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  5. Sydney circadas are pretty tame. The ones up here are green & enormous & I'm not real fond of them. They make an unholy racket all summer too! Their life cycle is actually rather interesting if you can overcome your aversion at all.

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  6. (Hi, I'm Kelly's Mom)
    We have the creepiest bugs at our lake house. I'm always looking around on the floor just to be aware. I tap my shoes and feel inside before I put them on.

    I love childhood innocence!

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  7. It totally cracks me up that Nate thought the crackling in his sleeve might be a lolly. I can. Imagine he was upset when he found out it wasn't.

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  8. Yeah, a cicada. They are big, and they have poor vision so they can bump into you while flying. Completely non-venomous though.

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  9. ... and there's the reason why I never leave my washing out overnight!!! I would have screamed from here to eternity......

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  10. Aw, poor little guy. Worst surprise ever is right!

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  11. I love that lolly is part of your everyday vocabulary now =).

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  12. I see a Cicada was found... those won't hurt a fly... me being an Aussie living in Florida... haven't seen one of these in ages... where I lived (in Newcastle) there were hundreds of these in the bush across from our house... it was like a rock concert when they all started singing... I am LOVING your adventures... makes me homesick :)

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  13. Hi, F&M Adventures! Thank you for all your lovely comments. :) How funny...you are an Aussie living in FL, and I am a Floridian living in Australia! Maybe we should work out some kind of exchange program. :)

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