Conquering Bugs

I don't even want to know how long it's been since I updated the blog, and I won't bore you with the details of why (because it's just the same old..."I've been busy" - which is always going to be the case with little kids ;-).  So, moving on, sorry it's been a while...but I'll try to get back on the blog wagon.

You may or may not know about Tyson's major bug phobia we've been dealing with for the last few months.  Not just that he doesn't want to touch them or see them.  We're talking, screaming bloody-murder, sounds like someone is ripping his teeth out one by one TERROR, about bugs...  You may think I'm exaggerating, but I'm telling you, the screams that come out of his mouth make my mama's heart stop for a second in sheer panic!  And then I realize...it was just an ant.  Or a fly.  Or a bee.  Or even a butterfly.  Not quite sure how or why this started, but it was to the point where he was waking up 2-4 times PER NIGHT, screaming and shaking in his room, and even coming down the stairs to our room with these ghostly sounding screams!  OUT OF CONTROL.  I decided it was time to have bug boot camp, get real friendly with every bug we could, and start to face this fear head on because life could not continue like it was!  The night terrors were bad, but he wouldn't even play in the back yard anymore, because a fly would land on the side of the house, or he would see ants in the gravel!  It is sunny 300+ days per year here in Colorado...the child has to be able to play outside (for his sake, and mine!!).  We talk about bugs, pray about bugs, talk TO bugs (aka, "Oh hi there little ant!  Where are you going?  Are you looking for food to take back to your family?"), and remind ourselves CONSTANTLY that bugs aren't scary, God made bugs, God loves bugs, and so should we.  So, we got friendly with bugs in a variety of ways.  Here are some photos of our bug journey...

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#1) Magnetic puff balls and pictures of bugs!

I found the coolest idea on Pinterest for gluing those little craft puff balls onto small magnets.  We use them for all kinds of things, but in this particular picture, he's putting them onto circles inside different kinds of bugs and insects.  I just put the printed off pictures on a $1 cookie sheet from the dollar store (magnetic so holds the puff balls in place) and he goes at it.  So fun!

Orange puff ball spider

All colors of butterflies!

    #2) Coloring bugs

Not the most complex activity, but we got out our new collection of plastic bugs (thank you, Amazon) and found matching ones on our coloring pages to help us decide what colors they should be.

 #3) Bug matching 

I found a blog (probably off of Pinterest, let's be honest) where someone had made this insect matching game for a homeschool unit.  I downloaded all the different pieces and then laminated and cut them out, and we set to work learning how to match photos of insects.

#4) Bug pattern blocks

For Ty's birthday we got a set of pattern blocks - I LOVE these things!  I used to play with them when I was younger, and I had been wanting them for my kids for a while.  I bought a set of actual patterns to use with the blocks, but there weren't any bug/insect pictures.  Fortunately, the world of Google made it fairly easy for me to find some bug patterns online so I printed and laminated them so we could use them with our blocks!

Butterfly blocks

Dragonfly blocks

Bee blocks

And I'm quite proud of this one...  Ty wanted to look at his new bug book while he was doing the pattern blocks, and he put the yellow ones together all by himself and told me they looked like the honeycomb in his book!!!  Proud mom moment.  His favorite part of the book is where it talks about the life cycle of bees, where they live, what they do, etc.  I was just happily blow away that he made his own honeycomb out of pattern blocks :)

#5) Bug sensory bin

As I mentioned in one of the above pictures, we got a set of plastic bugs from Amazon so we could actually play with them and touch them instead of just reading about them in books.  But I wanted some way for Ty to actually pretend with them, in hopes that it would further his "curiosity" and just make him more comfortable being around bugs.  I had the idea of making a bug sensory box, and it turned out great!  We keep his set of plastic bugs in this tub that I put together, and he uses it during "blanket time" about once a week.

Looking for food for his bugs (we decided that little brown puff balls, and green leaves cut out of felt would be the best food).

Examining some of his bugs up close with a magnifying glass.

Close up of our sensory bin, complete with flowers for the butterflies to land on and the bees to get nectar, a bowl for their food (since bugs eat out of bowls, duh), and a little felt mat with a grassy area, some dirt, and a little bond for them to drink :)

And a "mom, stop taking pictures of me while I'm trying to play" smile :)

So there you have it - our journey to conquer fear of bugs!  I am pleased to report that our strategies are definitely working.  We continue to read about bugs and do all of our little activities, read our bug flash cards and our bug books, and talk about how God made all bugs and what they do for the earth and the plants.  He's still not a fan of the buzzing sound from flies and bees, and gives the occasional bloody-murder scream when one startles him, but we have made MAJOR strides!  Now he will actually squat down and look at ants and potato bugs and talk to them, instead of screaming.  He'll point at butterflies instead of running the opposite direction.  And he will even stand (nervously, but still) near bees on flowers and ask about them.  

We did have a tiny wasps' nest in our play structure in the back yard, and he walk right up and peered into the hole where the nest was and wanted to talk about them.  Those are the situations that are a little bit tricky now, because I don't want to to scare him, but I don't want him to get too close or think about touching the wasps or their nest!  Robin took care of it with some wasp spray, but it's definitely been interesting for ME to try not to react when I'm freaked out by a bee or a spider, etc.  Gotta keep my cool for the sake of the kid, ya know...  One day he yelled, "Mom look, it's a caterpillar!"  It was in our garage.  And by the time I turned around in half a second, it was gone.  I'm pretty sure it was a fuzzy spider, considering caterpillars can't move that fast, but I tried to be nonchalant and tell him how cool it was that he saw a caterpillar.  Whatever works, right?

God made bugs, He loves bugs, and so do we.  We repeat that phrase often at our house...  I'll try to be better about updating the blog, even though we are adding a newborn to our house any day now!