A couple of weeks ago, the three of us went outside to hang out on the porch so Teagan could enjoy a popsicle. We noticed a very large caterpillar resting along the siding on our house. We pointed it out to Teagan and talked about it some, but then went on our way. By the time Teagan was finished with her popsicle, the caterpillar had begun to hang upside down.
We checked on it periodically through the evening and on in through part of the next morning, and it hung like that for somewhere between 17 and 23 hours. Rog said he saw it still hanging upside down at about 11 am the next morning, but by the time I got home at 5 pm, it was safely enveloped in a shiny green cocoon.
We kept an eye on it daily just to see if we could notice any changes, but for about two weeks there wasn't much to see. This morning we finally noticed that the cocoon had cleared up, allowing us to see straight inside.
We left the house for a couple of hours to go play at the park, and by the time we came back, we were thrilled to see that our fat little caterpillar had turned into a beautiful butterfly.
It rested for a few hours, allowing its wings to dry, and the final time I checked I saw that it had left us. It made me just a little bit sad to see it go, but I will revel in the fact that we were able to personally see something like that for the first time and share it with Teagan as well.
