Life Cycle of the Birthday Butterflies

As mentioned before, one of Nathan’s birthday gifts was a butterfly garden and so about a week after his birthday we found a surprise waiting for Nathan in the mail box. 

A box containing five precious caterpillars had arrived for Nathan all the way from California.  What excitement!!!  The caterpillars were pretty small and stayed in their little container to eat.  We were careful with them, keeping them out of the sun, not too hot, not too cold and we checked on them constantly.  Often we ate breakfast with them where we could easily observe them.  After about a week of watching them and just as I was commenting on how quickly the little guys had grown, one of the caterpillars crawled to the top of the now very small container and formed his little cocoon.  When we checked on them a few hours later we saw another cocoon and a third caterpillar hanging upside down working on his own.  Two more caterpillars were left to continue eating.  The next morning a fourth cocoon hung from the top of the container and one last caterpillar who was also always the smallest caterpillar was left crawling around wondering where everyone else was and what exactly he was supposed to do.  It was somewhat amusing to watch him crawl around the container poking the other cocoons.  The little guys inside of the cocoons didn’t like this disturbance and kept shaking their cocoons.  I felt bad for those being disturbed and I felt bad for the one little caterpillar left all alone!  We watched him for two more days and when we woke up in the morning that last caterpillar had parked himself right next to his best friend and was almost a fully formed cocoon… but we weren’t quite sure he finished the job.  No more caterpillars meant that it was time to carefully transfer the paper on the lid with the cocoons from the little caterpillar container to the big netted butterfly garden and pin it to the wall where we would await arrival of our butterflies.  Honestly I thought we had lots of time.  Also, cocoons aren’t all that exciting to watch either and so each day when I thought about moving the cocoons Nathan was already in bed and so I would skip it because I wanted him to be a part of moving the cocoons.  However, 6 days after the first caterpillar spun his cocoon I happened to pass by the container on the shelf and noticed a giant butterfly for its tiny caterpillar habitat airing its wings and so before anyone could eat breakfast there was a scuffle of activity and excitement as we carefully moved the paper with its precious cargo from its first home to its second.  The brand new butterfly, called a Painted Lady, was too new to fly and I noticed some of the other cocoons turning a darker color.  I came back an hour later and there was a second butterfly.  Phew!  I got to them just in time.  There would never have been room for two butterflies in that single container!  Lindsay sat in front of the garden all afternoon waiting for the grand entrance of the next butterfly.  But this must happen so quietly and so quickly that during a twenty minute session between glances with her head in a book she missed it!  The fourth one arrived the next day and as we watched it grow darker by the hour as it got closer to breaking free we still missed the actual event! 

Here are the empty shells of cocoons spun from caterpillar silk that the Painted Lady butterflies miraculously emerge from.  What an amazing and marvelous transformation!  I moved the cocoons JUST in time!

We fed our butterflies on some of their favorite flowers cut from our yard and sugar-water soaked balls of paper towel.  We had to be careful not to damage the butterfly wings or let the insects escape.  We were also watching out for the fifth cocoon though it looked stiffer and less finished than the  others had.

The butterflies were named by Nathan during their cocoon stage: Fred, Froggy Friend, George, Pilchard and Bob.  Sometimes one of the four butterflies attached themselves to us when we would carefully put our hand into their habitat to feed them.  Their feet feel sticky and tickly.  Feeding them was an exciting time each day.

The cats agreed that feeding time for the bugs was an exciting time too.  After the flowers were cut and the sugar water was placed in the garden we would watch the butterflies eat with what looked like to Nathan a long curly straw or tongue called a probiscus.

Every one got a chance to help.

We would observe the butterflies hanging near the kitchen window whenever we passed by or got the urge and at mealtime.

One day Nathan got the idea to branch out and experiment with what type of flower butterflies like best.  Trying impatiens, petunias, daisies and purple butterfly bush we got to see which ones the butterflies landed on and which ones they visited repeatedly.

One day when Nathan and I fed the beautiful Painted Ladies, one of them escaped.  We had a fun time trying to gently rescue him.  I was reminded of catching butterflies in my cupped hands out in my garden as a child.  I would sneak them into the house without my Mom knowing.  She didn’t like bugs in the house I guess.  I would let them fly around my bedroom and sometimes I would put them in my little Holly Hobbie dollhouse, close it and peer in at the butterflies through the little windows.  Then I would catch them once again and return them to the vegetable garden after I’d had a little time to observe them.  Back then I didn’t realize how fragile butterfly wings really are but I was as gentle as possible with them.

The butterfly seemed to have the right instinct and wanted to get out through the window.  I was really enjoying having these butterflies around and dreaded the thought of letting them go. 
What an awesome experience!  I decided that the sudden change in temperature from indoors to outdoors of over 30 degrees would probably be a cruel finish to these dainty winged dancers but Nathan and I talked and agreed that when it got nice enough to open the windows again we would let the butterflies go and fly away.

Once in a while we would get to hold a butterfly and examine it closely.  I let Nathan get as up close and personal with these critters as he wanted as often as possible.

Nathan looked at me one day with wide eyes and a pouty lower lip and said “Mom, I’m going to miss my butterflies”.  He almost had tears in his eyes.  “I know you will miss them” I let him know.  We were still in a heat wave however so it wasn’t quite time to let them go yet.

Magical moments with my three year old… such a great age when curiousity combines with sweetness. Communication and understanding merge.

The butterflies were occasionally quite active and certainly caught the attention of our kitties; Spooky, Scruffles and Sandy in turn.  Then the butterflies caught the attention of our kids as they were fighting.  Not my kids fighting but the butterflies.  Yes, we discovered that butterflies do fight… before they start kissing!  Interesting discussions followed this… and “AWKWARD” was the only comment from several of my children. 

The cats got so active with the butterflies that we took to turning off the ceiling fan and hanging the butterfly garden from the fan blades in order to keep a little more distance.  Again we spoke of giving the butterflies freedom.  They were over a week old now.  And a couple of them laid some beautiful greenish blue eggs that reminded me of the beautiful shade of a robin egg.  And by the way, Bob never did emerge from his cocoon.

On Monday July 9th the weather turned and it was time to go outside.  Nathan was surprisingly possessive of his Birthday Butterflies.  He’d given me the wide eyes and the pouty lip stuck out again but no trouble.  He bravely marched outside with his butterflies and waited for everyone to come and join him.  The first one we released fluttered around Nathan landing on the back of his shorts before launching on to his final chapter of life.
 
One flew straight up and over the garage into the great beyond.
 
He did allow Kaitlyn to let one of his butterflies launch from her fingers but he told everybody else they were HIS birthday butterflies.

While the whole family was present with much interest in the butterflies freedom the kids allowed Nathan this indulgence; a monopoly of butterflies.  Birthdays and birthday gifts are well respected around our home maybe because we don’t have a lot that we call our very own.
 
One of them flew to a favorite familiar flower before taking off giving us one last view.

The last one fluttered on to the branches of a nearby lilac bush gently waving his wings back and forth before leaving us for good.

With bittersweet feeling we had launched the butterflies into full freedom for one final adventure and we were left with just their little blue eggs which we tucked away into our fairy garden.  We don’t have caterpillar food and so there really was nothing else for us to do.  But next time we see a Painted Lady fluttering by sipping from the flora found around our home we will think of our friendly butterflies and believe that we were left one final gift.
And as one final side note, the butterflies have indeed left an impression.  Nathan now has a set of imaginary butterflies which occasionally are making an appearance for Nathan’s eyes only.  He will talk to them on his arm or at his side for a few minutes whispering to them little boys secrets and asking us to be careful of them.  Then we nod, smiling in appreciation of his little friends and leave Nathan to his wonderful imagination.