Ethan is Smart!

Yesterday when the boys came home from school there was a caterpillar hanging above the front door.  They begged me to catch it but I said no because it was hanging upside down and it looked like it was about to make a cocoon.  About 4 hours later when we checked on it there is was, all wrapped up.  Then a little later they found the same kind of caterpillar outside on the driveway and caught it in a bucket.  They weren't aloud to touch it with their hands though because it looked spiky and I wasn't sure if it was poisonous.  They eventually caught three caterpillars and put them in a little container.  Ethan has been studying life cycles at school said to put a cloth across the top of the lid and they would crawl up there and stick to it and make a cocoon.  Sure enough around lunch time this is what they looked like.  If you look close you can see all three hanging upside down in a little "J" shape.  I'll check on them later and take pictures of the cocoons too.  We looked them up on the Internet and they are called Spiny Elm Caterpillars and they do sting and cause a rash.  But when they hatch they are a butterfly (not a moth) called Mourning Cloak.  It is amazing what we can learn from our kids. More on this exciting story as it develops.