Poor Squiggy

Emma found a caterpillar out in the front yard and decided we should keep it as a pet because she doesn’t have any pets. We put it in an empty water bottle with a little water, some leaves and sticks and then she and Hunter continued to run through the front sprinklers. When they had finished with that, she came back to see the little caterpillar she had named Squiggy. He wasn’t anywhere in the bottle. Oh no Mom he’s gone! And then the tears began to flow. “He was the cutest thing ever and now he’s gone.” So we looked all over and finally found him a few feet away from the bottle slowly making his escape to freedom. She thought he needed a better home so she moved him to a pot with some dirt in it and we added some water and leaves for him to crawl around on. That night she went to see him again before going to bed and he had escaped again. So I assured her I would find him and tucked her into bed. I started searching all over the room with a flashlight for the one inch caterpillar. After a thorough search I checked the pot again and there he was, on the back side of a leaf. Thank goodness. The relief I felt was short lived when the next morning I noticed that Squiggy was in the exact spot I had seen him in the night before. Emma noticed it too. She again burst into tears and begged to know when we could get another pet. I told her I didn’t dare get one because she would be so upset if anything happened to it. We have already lost 2 fish in our past, and I think I might be jinxed when it comes to pets. Well, Emma made a heart out of a pipe cleaner and put it in a drinking glass. Then she buried Squiggy in the front lawn and placed the marker on top. I think it helped her to have some closure for her beloved Squiggy. He had such a short life, but made such a memory for us.