Spike Lives!

Spike

Proud owner

Okay, well, the story behind Spike is an interesting one. Hadley was selected to take home a caterpillar on the second to last day of school. The kids had a blast learning about the life cycle of butterflies this year in the classroom and Hadley was always incredibly excited to share stories about them nearly everyday after school. Once the caterpillars became butterflies she helped named them and, knowing Hadley, you know she gave these butterflies human-type characteristics and described their personalities in great detail constantly.

Anyway, the teacher, seeing Hadley's enthusiasm for these creatures, honored her with a lovely, spikey caterpillar, whom she named, Spike, of course. I asked the teacher if there was anything special we needed to do for Spike on the last day of school and she said, no, that he would become a butterfly in about ten days, and we could set him free. Hmmm..... Well, it didn't go that way at all. About five days in, I knocked Spike off the counter. I was speechless and Hadley was hysterical, to say the least. I said I was so very sorry and that if things didn't work out for the little guy, I'd go buy her one of those butterfly kits from the toy store. It ended up being enough to calm her down after awhile and we hoped for the best concerning Spike. Days go by, and no butterfly. Spike's cocoon looks lifeless and dull. We gave up after eighteen days and made our trip to the toy store, but left Spike on the counter, just in case. We get the kit home, fill out the form for butterflies excitedly, and put it promptly in the mail. That same evening, as we're getting ready to leave our house, I see movement in my peripheral, and call Hadley. Spike is a butterfly!!! We were all so excited for him. He was HUGE! His little container was not even big enough for him so we rounded up in the backyard to let him go. He took off immediately high into the sky. It was perfect and I got a few pictures just before the big event. Now we await our Painted Ladies to start the process all over again....