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We have a pet praying mantis named Cereal.

Well, his name might not actually be Cereal, because there was a big debate and nothing was decided.  The options were between: Pointy, Praying Mantis, and Cereal (of course).  And since the other names were so boring, I decided that I can say his name is Cereal, because WHY NOT?  Even though mostly we just call it, IT.

(My kids are never very creative when it comes to naming things.  This sort of annoys me.  For example, say they have a stuffed animal that is a black kitten.  They'll name it either Kitty or Blackie.  Even though I'm right there saying, "Why not name it Biscotti?  Or Cleopatra?  Or Flappy-Doodle?"  And the kids all look at me like I'm stupid and go on calling things Kitty and Blackie.  It's kind of sad.)

The whole idea of having a pet praying mantis is, in my opinion, extremely stupid.  What with my tremendous dislike of the entire bugdom, and the fact that my children are even afraid of things like fruit flies, I don't know what Husband was thinking when he bought a plastic "insect habitat" and decided to keep something that looks like this:



in my house.

(Ok, I'm super creeped out by that picture.  Does that creep anyone else out?  Because I feel like screaming now.)

So far my kids are fascinated by Cereal the praying mantis.  Husband fed it some other bugs this morning, which was, obviously, the highlight of breakfast.  You know, if you like watching small things get devoured in a violent manner.  Which, apparently, my kids do.

I seriously hope it dies.  And soon.  And that it's not replaced by something even more gross.  Like a tarantula or something (that my kids would probably name Spidey).

Comments

Barbaloot said…
Ew. That picture is awful---and I hardly even looked at it! Although I can appreciate anything being named Cereal.
I bet it IS fascinating and a great learning op for the kids, but I am REALLY creeped out by that picture. ICK

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We are VERY good at naming things. You should let us pick the next names. We'll come up with a top 3, and they can pick from that. PROBLEM SOLVED.
My kids sound a lot like yours. They named their teddy bear...(wait for it) BEAR. And the toy wombat from Australia? WOMBAT. And yes, i too try to persuade them to lean more towards creativity. No go.

Except for when we got a baby chicken. My teenagers thought it was hilarious to call it: Nugget. And then they said, "When it grows up we can call it, McChicken!"

I was not amused.
Or Tarry. Tarry the Tarantula.
Unknown said…
I was told (but I don't know if it's true) that it is illegal to capture a praying mantis> seriously. They are like the yoda of the bug kingdom.

You can always use this as an excuse (true or not) to release the guy into the great outdoors.
Janice said…
I love your blog! Am becoming a follower. My kid's have the same naming problem. The animals they sleep with? Chick, Hoppy, Dog, Bunny and another Bunny. Sad, sad.

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