Broken Wings

Paprika brought home a caterpillar from preschool, and we have been watching it change from a caterpillar into a butterfly. Yesterday it emerged out of its crysallis, and when it did, we found that its wings had formed a little differently...so it could not fly.



I explained to Paprika how this sometimes happens, and she was sad for the butterfly...but said she wanted to take care of her and show her the world anyway and hopefully the butterfly would be happy.



So for nine hours yesterday, Paprika carried the butterfly around and showed her everything. She fed her, and whispered to her, and showed her all the flowers in the garden.



She wanted Ginger to hold her...even though I told Paprika that was a bad idea. ;-) But thankfully, Ginger was really gentle with the butterfly and everything turned out okay.



Paprika even watched Tangled for the first time with her butterfly. She put her on her shoulder, and sat through the movie twice with the butterfly watching, too. We missed seeing the movie in the theater, and had such a great time watching it together last night. Now everything is all about Rapunzel around here...but that is a story for another day!



The butterfly is still alive and well here in our house. Paprika took her out today and played with her for a few hours, and once again, took her outside to let the sun warm her wings.

Paprika has a way with animals. Her gentle soul has a way of connecting with all creatures great and small. I remember back to times like when she petted and talked to the chicken for hours at the country fair (age 1), or when we spent six hours at the zoo just petting the goats (age 2).

Last week, when she was picking up her art work at school, she noticed a bee had landed on her painting. So, without hesitation, she picked the bee up and moved him to the fence. I said, "Sweetie, did you know that bees sting?" And she said, "Oh mama, I know. I just knew he wasn't going to sting me."




There are so many examples of this...I just can't even count them all. For example, when we were planting the sunflowers a few days ago, we were digging in the dirt and found all sorts of worms and bugs and critters. And she just reached in and moved them with her hands over to the next little patch of dirt. Like she was picking up a pencil.



Something in her quiet soul longs for that connection with wildlife. Honestly, I think she probably should have been born on a farm - somewhere in the great wide open. Instead, she was born in Beverly Hills...of all places. The only wildlife there is human! ;-)

I guess I just have to do the best I can to foster her gentle spirit and let her be the animal lover, dreamer, and butterfly whisperer that she is!