Kissing Ladybugs

On our way to the grocery store, or anywhere else for that matter, my son and I usually take a few minutes to stop at what we have dubbed "the ladybug bush"... this is a bush at the end of our street in which one sunny summer morning we had come across it filled with at least fifteen ladybugs, if not more... ever since then, we have walked passed it with the hopes of always finding more ladybugs, and it had never failed to amaze us when it was scattered with sparkling dew drops and tiny little flashes of red and orange. Unfortunately, a couple of months ago, the owners had gotten it trimmed, and from that moment on, the ladybugs had decided to travel to a perhaps more ample and better bush, so it had been a constant disappointment every day to stroll by and not see any of our friends amongst its leaves.

Well, this morning, we met two little orange ladybugs resting in the greyish early morning light as we were making our way to the bank.  We stopped of course, and I delicately took one and showed her to Zach, who watched, fascinated, as she tickled the palm of my hand and stretched her wings a few times.  His greenish-brownish eyes remained fixed on her tiny moving body and his chubby index finger extended to point at her, his mouth a little open in concentration;  I gently placed her on his minuscule finger and explained to him that he must be "doo doo" and let Mrs. Ladybug walk around a bit on him.  I let her crawl around on him a little, taking her back every few seconds and placing her back on his hand so that she would not fly away or get too bored with us human giants.  I asked him to kiss her goodbye because it was time to let her go back to her bushy home, and he obliged, pursing his pink-tinged lips and kissing the spot where she had been just a mere second ago.  I placed her on one of the many leaves and walked a few paces more to see where the other ladybug had gone, and when I found her, I tenderly took her between my fingers and placed her in my other open palm.  I kneeled beside my son and repeated the same procedure as we had done with the first;  she was a bit wearier of the whole situation however, and had not enjoyed being bothered in her early morning ritual, so Zach and I quickly gave her kisses and let her get on with her day.  We said goodbye to our two new buggy friends and our dear ladybug bush as we continued our walk and our first complete day alone together since I have started school and he has been in daycare.