A Winged Miracle

This morning at 10:00 am, Buddy came out of his chrysalis. I was excited! My mom, my brother, and I wanted to find out if it was a male or a female. We googled on the Internet and found a page that showed what the male and the female look like. A male has two black dots on his lower wings. A female has thicker veins. We found out that Buddy is a female! My brother named it Matilda.

I made up a poem for Matilda:

Spread Your Wings

Spread your wings my friend,
Lift them up to the sky,
Flap them in the wind,
Take off and start to fly.

Matilda is outside hanging on a chair. I am going to read my poem to her and see if she will fly!

Photos taken by my mom.
Poem and story by Flower Power.

From a Caterpillar to a Butterfly

When Buddy was first big, Mama said to give him as much milkweed as he could have and to make sure that he didn't run out.

When I saw him coming out it was pretty cool. I was the first one to see his chrysalis turn from green to clear.

Just today, I learned that the butterfly came out of his chrysalis. We waited for my dad to come home from church and for the bad thunderstorms to pass. We tried to release him in the garage because it was still rainy. He did not want to fly away. He is still outside on a chair, hanging upside down, one hour later.

This is a photo of it hanging with me looking at it. The white thing on the chair is a cotton ball soaked in sugar water. Earlier on the computer, we found out a way to tell if it is a female or male. We discovered that Buddy is a female! Now, I've named it Matilda after my friend's pet pig.

Matilda is still in the garage!

My mom took these photos.

Quick Changes

On April 24,2009, our largest caterpillar Buddy was in his container eating as usual. I predicted that he would be the first one to fly away. He was eating a lot of milkweed and was getting bigger and fatter.

This morning on April 25,2009, I walked up to the kitchen, and Buddy was in a J! I waited for my mom to get up. When she came up to the kitchen, she was so amazed!

An hour and a half later, Buddy was in a chrysalis! I was awestruck! It happened so quickly I didn't see it happen. I was watching cartoons in the family room, and my mom was in the office. We didn't realize it would happen so fast. Next time, we will watch!

Now I know for sure that he will be the first one to fly away! Winslow will probably be next.

Photos taken by Flower Power.