Olivia the Bug Whisperer

My sweet girl is about as girly as they come.  Most days, if you were to peek in on her, you'd find her dressed in her hot pink "spinny" dress, wearing multiple necklaces and/or rings, and setting up "Bunny's Birthday Party".  Complete with tea and crumpets, of course.  ;)

She doesn't just love ballet, she is a ballerina.  And when I often ask her, "Wow!  You sure look fancy! Are you a princess today?"  I am always corrected, "No, Mommy!  I am a ballerina!." Very matter-of-factly.  ;)

Along with all her girly-ness, comes a love of all things buggy.  This girl LOVES her bugs.  She expresses delight over almost any bug (with spiders being the exception).  Although, on a camping trip this summer, she did get pretty friendly with the daddy long legs hanging around our campsite.  ;)

She seeks out ants, roly poly bugs, and especially butterflies.  No matter where we're at, or who she's playing with.

This one was a little blurry, but she was SO excited to find a Katydid!  Notice the dirt smudges on her face too.  This girl is not bothered one bit by dirt.

Lately, she's taken to catching bugs, playing with them and also asking them "what's your name, bug?  You have a name?"  And then assigning said bug with a name.  Most of them are nonsensical jibberish names, but the past couple of days she's come up with some pretty clever ones.  This morning she took a Boxelder bug to tea, and called "her" Boxy.  :)

Today we spent quite a while at the park, probably for the last time this season.  It has been pretty cold and rainy lately, so to have a warm, sunny day was a delight for all of us.  Imagine her joy at discovering that the caterpillars were out in force today!  She picked up and held not one, but TWO Wooly Bear caterpillars.  It was the highlight of her time there.  She only named one of them, but "she" was called Elissa.

Then she found an extremely lucky grasshopper, who was dubbed "Popcorn".  These names are all her ideas - and I just find them incredibly cute.

She was absolutely elated when "Popcorn" wanted to "go for a ride!" on her pants.  She even took him down the slide!

There is nothing like watching her sweet little face light up when she finds a new "friend."  And I smile, not only because she is SO excited no matter how disgusting the unsuspecting insect is, but because it's part of the humor in my life that she has a Mommy who is very UN-enthusiastic about bugs.  I love this girl!  Maybe she will grow up to be an Entomologist?  :)