The Day I Finally Listened

One thing I have learned over the years is that kids love to share news or be the one to inform an adult about something they think is particularly exciting and/or dramatic. Katelyn loves to report news and most of the time I am a good audience. She usually reports factual information that I am genuinely interested in or at the very least should be aware of as a parent. If the report involves a spider related sighting, I ALWAYS listen. I am thrilled if it is a false alarm. I am quick and methodical if it is an actual sighting. I go in for the kill quickly and usually with a fair amount screaming, but I get the job done.

As you can see, we have some freakishly huge Hobo spiders that have tried to co-habitate with us...

...as well as some S.O.U.S (spiders of unusual size) that simply have to die if I am going to live here, let alone sleep at night.

There is one topic however where I don't always give Katelyn the benefit of the doubt. Like me, Katelyn has a rational (some call it irrational) fear of flying-stinging things. So, if her story has to do with anything in that category I sort of tune it out for either one of two reasons. One, I want to try and help her get over her fear and not freak out completely every time she is near something that buzzes while flying; and two, because I am terrified she might actually be right. If there is a flying stinging thing, I don't want to be in charge of saving the day, because it might actually scare me to DEATH and that would not help her with her fear at all.

So, for a few days Katelyn had been telling me that there was "a HUGE hornet's nest in the front yard." She said she noticed it as she was heading out to get in the car before school. I had her point and show me (from inside the safety of our home of course) and all I could see was a giant brown thing... probably a leaf or something. I reassured her that it was nothing and she didn't argue. A few days later, I had her run out to mail a letter for me before her ride came for school. She said she would do it but asked me to watch her from the front door to make sure she was ok. I said I would and then watched her run in an erratic combat field pattern across the lawn, avoiding the giant brown thing at all costs. Since it was such a nice day and I was feeling particularly brave, I decided I would go out and dispel all her fears. Instead, I think I taught her a few new expletives when this is what I saw:

It was like a wasp condo of death in my opinion, but with our freezing temperatures and and my thorough visual inspection I decided to attempt bravery for Katelyn's sake. I smashed the thing into oblivion with my shoe and then disposed of it in it's entirety. I know it could have been a lot worse, but this was bad enough for me. I just hope the queen heeds the warning of this eviction notice and doesn't come back. We had a couple of queens somehow hibernate in our dryer vent last winter. You can imagine my delight when I found them INSIDE my house in the laundry room. I was brave though and instead of moving, I called Orkin. I think I better keep them on speed dial as spring peeks around the corner.

The best part was that my very sweet and forgiving six year old never said "I told you so mom!" Instead she wanted to make sure I took a picture of it for the blog and told me how brave I was to get rid of it for our family. I'm not sure how I got so lucky to have her... I am hoping however that Brooke won't be afraid of them so that in a few years she can be in charge of all extermination efforts that don't involve Orkin or a moving truck.