Aliens

God is an artist with a sense of humor. I don't have to look any further than these caterpillars that we found (and released!) over the past couple of days to find concrete proof of the truth of that statement. The white fluffball is a Spotted Apatelodes, which is harmless. The Saddleback caterpillar (which needs no explanation) has a nasty sting from those spikes, so we were very careful with that one. They are both beautiful and very strange, and they could be mistaken for aliens if you didn't know what they were. Speaking of aliens, I have begun to wonder if a ship has flown over my house and abducted my child in the past week. He got a very good behavior report, and he is making good choices, often without prompting. But the biggest clue lies in the fact that he is upstairs reading. Every weekend up til this one has been spent with constant prompting (mine) followed by loud whining (his) about the need to get his reading log completed before we hit the whirlwind of homework, tests, etc. Tonight? I asked if he wanted to read, and he eagerly said "yes!". I told him I would set the timer for 20 minutes, and he said, "More!". I then suggested 30 minutes, and he replied, "Could you set it for an hour, please?" ??? If anyone sees a strange object hovering above my house, with flashing lights and tractor beams, please let me know. I need to get out there BEFORE they return the child I had and let them know that they gave me a keeper!