And he was a beautiful butterfly.

On the way inside tonight, I spotted a beautiful caterpillar on the railing right outside our front door. I mean this was like no other caterpillar I have ever seen. So interesting I just had to take a photo. I'm not a big 'nature photographer', preferring instead to take photos of the people and pets in my life. But this was something.

I ran in and grabbed my camera and started snapping away. Nate quickly decided he "didn't yike" the caterpillar and headed in through the open door as I was finishing up. He then proceeded to slam the door shut. Approximately .0081 seconds later I heard a click followed by a tiny yet triumphant voice shouting "I WOCKED IT!!" [Insert insane giggling here.] Oh. Crap.

I tried the door. Yep, 'wocked' all right. Let the pleading begin. "NATE, unlock the door please. Seriously Nate, unlock it." [More giggling.] Nate struggled with the handle and for a quick second I panicked at the thought of my two-year-old loose in the house unsupervised except for four (about to be really pissed off) cats. And then I saw his face light up as he figured out how to unlock it and I pushed the door open before he could change his mind.

I should say (before CYS starts knocking on my door) that we DO have a garage door with a keypad so he really would have only been alone for a minute or two. But for today I learned two very important lessons: 1) It's time for door knob covers and 2) even the caterpillars in this town are Steelers fans.


Thanks to bugguide.net for helping identify this as Halysidota Tessellaris (or Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar)