Lily's View on Bugs

While heading over to our garden the other day, Lily noticed a bug crawling on the sidewalk. It wasn't a big bug...actually, it was pretty small and I'm amazed she saw it at all. But as soon as she noticed it, she went back to step on it. Now, I don't like bugs all that much either, but unless there is an eminent threat of it crawling on me or biting me or continuing to buzz in my ear, I leave them alone. It's a karma thing. (Ok...not really, but that sounded good, right?) So when she squished the bug, I told her that she doesn't have to step on every bug she sees. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Lily, you don't need to step on every bug. It they aren't bothering you, just leave them alone.
Lily: But I don't like bugs.
Me: I know, but some bugs are nice.
Lily: Was that bug nice?
Me: Probably. Now we'll never know because you squished him.
Lily: He was a mean bug, Mama. Just trust me, ok?

And that was the final word, apparently; how could I argue with that? So we continued our walk to our garden to see if Lily's carrot and radish seeds had sprouted yet. When we got there, I pulled a weed, and just as I pulled it out of the ground, a worm poked what I assume was its head out of the hole and wiggled on out. I pointed it out to Lily, and she asked if we could take it home. Uh....no. I explained that worms help our plants grow so he needed to stay in the garden. Then she poked him a few times, which she thought was fantastic, and we finished looking at our plants. Just as we were getting ready to leave, she asked one more time if we could take the worm home. After I told her no, she said:

I'm going to miss that little worm...

Moral of the story: Bugs bad. Worms cute and pet-worthy.