The other day, Crappy Baby sat on me and put his arms around me. It was lovely.
I said:
And he replied:
He loves dung beetles. Says he wants to be a dung beetle for Halloween next year.
He learned about dung beetles (and many other bugs) from the movie Microcosmos
(Secretly hoping he sticks with this idea for Halloween. How cool would that be? I’ll build him a shiny black beetle shell for his back, he’ll wear black clothing and we’ll cover one of those round plastic pumpkin candy containers with brown paper-mache to make it look like his ball of poop. It would be perfect! Kids this age are fickle though. Who knows what he’ll want to be by then. I’ll probably have to be the dung beetle. Like always.)
He’s lucky he has you for a mother, rather than my bug-phobic self. I can only tolerate fireflies and ladybugs.
you ever seen a firefly up close? they’re ugly!
Says YOU! They’re beautiful! The stripes down their backs… so streamlined and gorgeous. And their butts are awesome too. I mean, well, you know. 🙂
Janelle likes bug butts! Sorry, had to say it! :))
I’m with you, but would add fuzzy caterpillars to the list. 🙂
My thoughts exactly SC. {{Shudder!}} I WISH we had fireflies here but they’d freeze to death!
My two year old has decided that we like butterflies, ladybugs, roly-polys and worms. We don’t like ants (they bite), skewwy spiders, flies or bees. I can’t wait to watch this on Netflix with him!
What a beautiful moment.
Your posts always make me laugh 🙂 I’m expecting my first in September and can’t wait till mine are doing and saying these sorts of things.
The best Halloween costumes are insectoid/arthropodal:
http://sahmnambulist.blogspot.com/2011/11/halloween-review.html
Love it!! If they love bugs, check out the Minuscule series, they are fantastic. This is one of my favourites – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imf62Y5-ZdU
It’s worth getting the entire series for all the different buggy excitement!
That looks great, thanks!!!
My 2 3/4 year old son is OBSSESSED with Miniscule!
I was just going to suggest the serie, it is simply G R E A T !! and 3D movie it’s comming next year!!!! I’m so exited!!!
Bahahahaha!
Well, that beats him actually pushing poop around… which seems to be my daughter’s peculiar pasttime since we started potty training this week. ::sigh::
I think I want to be a dung beetle for halloween, too. Actually, the next time my wife asks me what the heck I’m doing, I think I’ll say, “I’m a dung beetle, pushing my ball of poop around.” I could get used to that as a catch-phrase at our house. I’m stealing it.
Love. It.
totally using this! my bf is always asking me what i’m doing…
Fickle is definitely a good description. My son was always my “baby bird.” He loved the title, I loved the title. Often he would call me Mommy Bird instead of Mommy. So my grand idea was to have my mom (who sews) make him a feathery, adorable baby bird costume for Halloween! Thank goodness we didn’t end up following through because one day I called him Baby Bird like always and out of the blue, he rejected it. “I’m not a baby bird anymore,” he said. “What are you then?” I asked. “A baby BEAR,” he said. And each day after that it changed to a different animal and he would refuse to be called the animal of the previous day. What was he for Halloween that year? A dinosaur.
LOL at you’ll probably have to be the dung beetle! Just watched the clip, that is awesome.
My favorite was the year my then one year old had to go as Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. We lived in Japan and no other costumes fit her.
http://www.momintwocultures.com/2011/09/halloween-is-coming-panic.html
My kid loves bugs ….and worms…..[sigh]
she says worms are “so cute and squishy”…..lol
Who wouldn’t love a paper mache poop candy bucket? Seriously? I would give extra candy to that kid.
I KNOW, right?! Somebody in our house is going to have to be a dung beetle, there is just no walking away from this plan now.
Are there spiders in this movie or just insects? I’d love to watch it, but I really can’t take spider scenes.
There is one spider scene, yes. It is a brightly colored (yellow/orange) one though which are slightly less scary somehow in my black widow spider phobic mind.
Oops, just remembered the “other” spider scene, an underwater spider. That one is pretty scary.
I was not aware there was such a thing as underwater spiders. Before this post, I was an avid swimmer. You have single-handedly destroyed a part of my soul. Still love your blog, though. 🙂
Oh no! Here I go again, destroying souls.
Thanks!
This IS a spider video, but it’s one of the funniest I’ve ever watched. My spiderphobic friend even shared it with her friends.
http://www.break.com/usercontent/2007/9/Wood-Spiders-are-Wild-Creatures-369272#
Hahahh, too funny! I will definitely have to put that on my Netflix queue, my daughter loves bugs too.
My child has dubbed bees ” spicy flies” because the dog ate one and got stung in the mouth. Pretty ingenious. Now if you say the words spicy fly around the dog he goes into hunting mode.
That is brilliant!!!
Oh my goodness that’s utterly fantastic! Kids day the darndest. Apparently I called spider webs ‘spider weapons’ as a kid. Pretty apt description of you ask me 😉
Crackin’ me up!!! I hope you are considering homeschooling your geniuses. I don’t imagine it’s too easy to find a lot of teachers who appreciates boys’ enthusiasm for rolling poop. lol.
We are wandering down that path, yes. But scared shitless.
You might want to talk to your son about that condition.
It’s not as hard as you might believe. I was in your shoes three years ago. So far, so good! Today we continued our study of Ben Franklin (reading Ben and Me, and perusing Versailles photos online) and electricity (built series/parallel circuits!)
We are just getting into homeschooling. My daughter is just waaaaaaay too into learning outside the box (that is the classroom) to sit in one all day. Talk about squishing creativity. I’m looking into the “unschooling method” that seems to be kinda the way you guys are learning too (based on your posts)… most kids learn this way before the classroom is introduced.
Love your blog and every post you write… soooo hilarious! You definitely need to make that costume. Would totally rock!! I also would give extra candy to the poop bucket. :o)
how. cute. is. he! as long as you don’t mind being the dung! LOL!
My boys love documentaries and the like (They really love Turtle: The Incredible Journey) and they love bugs. I just added that to my Netflix Queue.
I’ve noticed that Turtle one, will check it out!
It’s really good. My kids loved it too!
I love the turtle one too! Makes my heart sad for the ocean though.
That is HILARIOUS! The clip is funny too! We will def be checking out Microcosmos for some learning fun!
We love Microcosmos! Dung beetle with a poop candy container sounds like a winning costume to me!
My two sons LOVE beetles, and they are also quite familiar with dung beetles, as well as that documentary. I think having two beetles for Halloween would be awesome!
In the end, it doesn’t matter what you plan for them to be for Halloween. It doesn’t matter how much you spend, or that they really really want to be this thing for Halloween, because the day before trick-or-treat, they will change their mind. Then you get to be the freak with the closet full of half-done Halloween costumes, and last minute store-bought ones.
Amanda, yours is the voice of bitterness borne of long years of experience. I salute you and your closet of half-finished costumes.
Finish the costumes and sell them on Etsy! My mom made the most beautiful costumes when I was a kid and we actually played in them till they got too small.
Last week my 18-month old was cuddling in my lap, eating some cheese, when he looked up at me and said “Ah lubv yoooohhhhuuu”. I had a moment of maternal bliss before he looked at his plate and said “Ah lubv cheeeeeeeeeeeese!”
My own personal love of cheese rivals my love of other people for sure.
When I read the first half of your post my eyes all welled up tears in excitement and hope for when my 2.5month old gets to the age when she can say that. Then I finished ready and I was laughing those tears out something fierce! PERFECT!
If my kiddo is still refusing to talk by Halloween, he’s being a dung beetle!
Haha! Should I say that about my 16th month old who’s refusing to walk?
We love Microcosmos! The snail sex scene gives me the giggles every time I watch it…they set it to music!!
I know, that scene is hilarious.
Wondering if Crappy Mommy might need to be the poop in the costume…Thank you for your fantastic blog!
Ha! So cute. When my husband was 5 he was a cockroach for Halloween. 🙂 Boys are funny!
My son is obsessed with roliepolies. A bunch of his friends are always digging for them at recess. The first time he told me this, I asked him (just for kicks) what is a roliepolie?
His response (in a five year old “duh, Mom” voice…It’s a POLIE that ROLLS!
Well, excuuuuuse me! 🙂
Huge amounts of rollie love here too. Our yard is covered with them. They talk to them like friends.
I had a friend when I was little who used to take them to church in her little purse. Eeeewwww.
So, forgive the innocence, but…..what IS a rolypolie?
Just a cute name for a Pill Bug. Also know as a Potato Bug.
Cute for kids, bad for gardens.
But if you wanted to raise one they live about three years.
Picture here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillidiidae
Potato bug! That’s what we called them! Then when I was 16 or so, someone said they caught a “potato” bug under a cup, and could someone PLEASE get rid of it! They were SO SCARED of potato bugs! What was under that cup was a “Jerusalem Cricket” – NOTHING like a Pill Bug Roly Poly!!!
Hilarious! “Your little dung beetle.” Love it! If he ends up being that for Halloween, you definitely need to post about it.
It would be a cool costume. I think this will be another year where he’ll want to be whatever Crappy Boy is which will likely be a knight or any other thing that gives him an excuse to possess weaponry.
Our family went as ninjas last year. We each had a weapon, and it was AWESOME.
Ooh, ninja family is pretty cool!
Rex (2yo) told me those snails were hugging. LOL! I liked the movie but wish it had been narrated.
I wished that too! I love the music and the simplicity of it but I wish there was a mention of what all the bugs were at least.
This reminds me of my best friend’s little boy. He is fascinated by “stinky bees.” Which, in reality, are stink bugs. He wants to be one for Halloween and I’m pretty sure his Mama already started working on the costume. 😉
My 4 year old thinks worms are “SOOOOO Cuuuuuuuute” and even refers to them as his friends. Don’t worry, he does get out and has real human friends too.
I would love the dung beetle costume, that is so funny and original and weird, all rolled into one.
My bug obsessed 18mo old loves that movie! The snails sex scene lead to an interesting conversation with my 4 year old. 🙂
He also couldnt handle the grasshoppers getting killed scene it made him cry so we have yet to finish the movie
I am adding that movie to Netflix ASAP. My daughter LOVES bugs!!
If your kid loves bugs, I highly recommend “Minuscule”. It’s french, but the bugs are not speaking so everybody understands. My kids LOVE watching Minuscule, especially the ladybug. They also have dung beetles ^^
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=minuscule&oq=minuscule&aq=f&aqi=p-p1g9&aql=&gs_l=youtube.3..35i39j0l9.5100.5980.0.6146.9.9.0.0.0.0.140.793.7j2.9.0…0.0._Xli2fVlW3Q
thanks for this link! My kids and I are now watching all of these and they are loving them!
So funny! Ugh. I can’t believe kids are already talking about Halloween… 🙂
Kate
http://www.justdelivered.net
Someone may have said this already, I didn’t read all the comments this time, but I was afraid that he was going to say that he was making you a ball of poop or that you were going to say afterwards that he had made you a ball of poop :p
My oldest will be 3 in a few weeks & he’s obsessed with bugs, particularly snails. He usually ends up killing them eventually but he lines them up in a parade, puts them in time out when they’re bad & try to run away & wants to take them to the doctor when he cracks their shells lol
Adorable!
My 18 monh old loves to sit in our garden and uses his chubby, little fingers to point out the ants. Then uses his chubby, little fingers to squash the ants, whilst shouting out ‘ANT! ANT!’ triumphantly.
He squashed an earwig last Sunday.
But still accompanied the coup de grace with a yell of ‘ANT!’
Do you have earwigs in USA?
Oh yes, everywhere. Especially in and near the sandbox.
That’s strangely reassuring to know. Thanks.
We actually have Microcosmos on VHS!! Considering how often it is viewed around our house, we should consider getting it in a more durable format.
Thanks for the tip! I watched Microcosmos with my kids this afternoon and they LOVED it, especially the dung beetle. In fact, he has been playing dung beetle since.
Yeah, that dung beetle really is the star of the show.
Yay for moms who encourage entomological interests!
so cute! I love how the video you posted is almost 3 minutes long. Just what I want to spend naptime doing! 🙂
My kids LOVE that video – I had to rewind the dung beetle 100’s of times, pretend to be his voice, etc. They also love the “dancing” snails LOL
I totally want to steal your ding beetle idea because I walked in my son’s last Saturday to get him out of his crib and he handed me a perfectly round baseball sized ball of poo. Until it hit my hand I couldn’t figure out where he got the large rock from…
died laughing. 🙂
for a creepy bug check out the doson beetle…. saw one on monday!
I had a bit of a moment there, I thought you’d been watching us! I said exactly that to my 2yo a little while ago, “Are you my cuddle bug?” But the answer I got was a vehement, “NOT a CUDDLE BUG! I GENEVIEVE!”, complete with arm actions. Ah well, it was a nice cuddle anyway. 🙂
I think you should be the Dung Beetle and dress them up as balls of poop. Then, you could push them around in a stroller! 🙂
Ha ha!
I hope he sticks with that idea. I think it would be super cool. My son was a preying mantis last year. It took some time to make, but was a big hit. Much more interesting than the myriad superhero costumes his friends had 😉
A few things. first, why did they have to show the bugs having bug-sex?? The ladybugs?? Wow. Second, I thought it was a silent movie (I watched with my 3yo who loved it!) and he did something to the sound and about 20 mins in, he did something else and the sound came back. Third, who can tell me where the spider scenes are? He really wants the spiders, and it’s just not appealing to me to sit through more than an hour of it. 20 mins was bad enough! This momma can do with out the creepy-crawlies!
My sister made a scarab-beetle costume for her toddler one year. Complete with irridescent wings from under the carapace. And those mouth pincer things on her hood. It was super cute, and no one had any idea what she was. “Oh look. What a cute little monster! [my daughter] And… a butterfly?’
I never realised dung bettles push it around with their back legs! Crazy little creatures!
so we’re watching it again…and this snail scene is just about….uh….can snails be obscene?? LOL
Thank you for the movie suggestion! My son would LOVE it! Happy Friday & Weekend!
I grew up in central Africa where Dung Beetles came out in droves in the rainy season. As a child they were one of my favorite bugs too! Their legs made this crazy squeaky noise when they walk, as if their legs need oiling! I hope your son gets to see on in person some day!
I just wanted to say that I love the new pics on your About Me page!!!!
oh kids. that’s hysterical.
My son wanted a Madagascar hissing cockroach birthday cake one year. Try ordering that one! I don’t have a dung beetle costume, but I do have an earthworm one!
You MUST dress him as a dung beetle.
You MUST take hundreds of pictures with his poop ball.
Then you MUST bring those pictures out again and share them at his wedding.
Most of us don’t get to dress up our kids as dung beetles. You are one of the lucky ones. DO IT FOR THE REST OF US!!!
Microcosmos is awesome. It’s our bedtime show in this house!
Thanks for the movie recommendation. We watched it yesterday and my daughter loved it!
My 5-yr-old son wants to be broccoli for Halloween. He’s described in great detail how his broccoli costume should be made. I’m not going to push it, because I don’t want him to change his mind. I totally want him to be broccoli for Halloween.
Dung beetle?! You’ve got me beat; that is a super-great future costume.
Joe Cartoon.
Thank you for the microcosmos rec! We watched the first half yesterday and it was amazing. Surprisingly my boys were grossed out by the dung beetle no matter how much I tried to convince them it was cute 😀
So funny. I will have to share that video with my nephew.
When he was about three he was learning different family member types and found out, I was his aunt. He looked at me funny and but did not say anything. Later he came to me, I think after asking his Momma if I was really an insect, and told me I was an aunt but not the kind that bites. I replied, “Shows what you know” and chased him around the house trying to nibble on him.
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Microcosmos rocks! I try and get my family to re-watch it all the time!
I just found your blog yesterday and read through the whole thing, love it! I found this movie on netflix and put it on for my girls today and they were thrilled with it, thank you. 🙂
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