In Which The Kids Become Florence Nighten-Pea and Clara Bug-ton...

A few months ago the Bug and the Pea planted a garden. Initially, they placed sunflower seeds in plastic cups full of dirt. Those seeds burst through the soil, and were transplanted from the cups to the garden. They grew...and grew...and grew. The sunflower plants are enormous! They were taller than our fence and I enjoyed seeing them as I drove out of the driveway, away from the house each morning. They are now bending over and the flowers are full of sunflower seeds to be planted next year.
The Bug and the Pea make a sport of picking the seeds. They travel to the garden several times a day to harvest the seeds so that we'll have plenty for next year's garden. (And I'm fairly certain that the seven thousand seeds they have harvested will be PLENTY for next year's crop.) While picking the seeds, the kids have noticed inhabitants of the former sunflower plants. Caterpillars. EVERYWHERE. The caterpillars crawl up and down the stem and munch on the large green leaves.
The Bug and the Pea are mesmerized. Their little faces draw close to the caterpillars and eyes follow the fuzzy creatures up and down the stalk. When a caterpillar crawls under a leaf, the Bug squeals with delight, "He's going to EAT! He's going to EAT! QUICK! Come see!" Today, the children decided that seeing was not enough. They gently pulled caterpillars from the sunflowers and giggled as the caterpillars inched slowly up fingers and arms.
At one point, the Bug announced she was quite certain the caterpillars were (gasp) sick. All of them. Sick. Sick. Sick. The Pea sprang into action. Before I knew it, we had a miniature emergency room at our disposal. The kids fashioned teeny tiny hospital beds out of grass clumps. The Bug took an old sand pail and fastened on a jump rope. She threw one end of the jump rope over the beam on our playset and voila...a pulley system. The caterpillars were transported to the second floor of the hospital (i.e. the playset clubhouse) and medical supplies were lifted up via pulley from the ground level (i.e. the swing). The Pea would also send up ginormous sunflower leaves for the caterpillars to munch during their convalescence. Once the caterpillars were well, they were transported to the tray table attached to the grill. ("MOM! We're not GRILLING the caterpillars, they're just crawling ON the grill! Silly Mommy!)
Once the sun set, I told the girls it was time for "bath and bed!" They were hesitant to leave their posts. "Mom! We're nurses! They NEED us, even through the night!" I repeatedly assured the Bug and the Pea their patients would benefit from a good night's rest.
Finally, little Florence Nighten-Pea and Clara Bug-ton headed upstairs for a nice looooong soapy bath...