Cicadas

E and I remember the same sound from our childhood: cicadas. They are so unusually loud on the open Kansas air that a dear friend, visiting from another state for our wedding, thought we were being taken over by aliens. Or some such :) We have these guys in NY too, but they are quieter, and their sounds are different and they are harder to find.

While we were in Kansas, P was pretty obsessed with them. We listened to cicada sounds from the world over, marveling at the variations. We read their full history on Wikipedia. We collected specimens and looked for burrow holes. We watched the stages of metamorphosis. I learned a lot :)

Apparently, so did P. I'm never sure what tidbits he's focusing on when we look up answers to his questions. Sometimes we have to look the same thing up months later (neither of us retained that tidbit:) Other bits flow out in his dialogue as if he's known it forever. Like when we heard cicadas in the park, here, upon our return. He noticed the difference in sound and asked if it was a cicada or a cricket. I guessed cicada, it sounded like the ones we'd heard from Japan. He said he hoped it was a cicada moving its neck, not a cricket, rubbing its legs. And then the sound stopped. "Oh!" He said, "it must have found its mate." Wow. What a little Wickepedia can do. This, from the kid who a month ago saw two ladybugs doing the dance of love and asked me if it was a double decker ladybug :) Ahh how the birds and the bees, er, bugs, slowly creep in....

But what he loved most about cicadas this summer, were their shells. Actually, how scared so many people were of their shells. He collected dozens upon dozens of shed shells, dried and slightly grotesque, and kept them on his shelf. Then, whenever anyone came to visit, he gave them away as going away prizes. Yah, a big hit with the ladies ;) Grams played her part (though she's actually scared of nuthin') very well, squealing and squirming each time he displayed his new finds. Ah, its the little power games that get him through the day!