of wolf spiders and little white lies

A few weeks ago Avery & I went to toddler time at our local wetlands center and got to see a mother wolf spider and her babies. It's a terrible picture because I only had my phone and sadly the clarity of the infant spiders is lost. But the fuzziness on the body of the spider is actually a billion babies. Or at least a hundred. Maybe. Definitely a lot.

After watching the spiders, I asked one of the workers what happens to all of the babies and she nonchalantly informed me that you know, they go home with visitors, or escape to other areas of the building. But they've "never seen any adults around!" Such a comforting statement! Or not.

So on Deran's last Friday off for the summer we spent the day taking in the new Winnie the Pooh movie (EXCELLENT!) and then ended the day with a visit to the wetlands center. I've really been wanting Deran to check it out because I think it's a neat place and Avery & I spend several days a month there. Anyway, it happened to be the same week we'd seen the spider and I was eager for him to see it because the babies only stay with the mother for a week or two. I'm a wolf spider expert now. I came home after the first trip and found this video. And that's exactly what I saw, minus the crazy person holding the mother spider.

When we saw the spider on Friday, sure enough we saw a baby or three escaping out of the top of her enclosure. On Saturday Deran mowed the lawn and it became obvious that he was bitten by an INSECT. Internet, I'm not only an expert on wolf spiders, I'm also an expert on bumps and bites on the body. And let me tell you, if I'm not concerned about it - you shouldn't be either!

By Monday Deran had convinced himself that he was not bitten by an insect, but rather he was bitten by a wolf spider and that it was my fault. A few days later we were still talking about his leg (that wasn't even red at this point) and he's still all "wolf spider this" and "wolf spider that," when Avery grabs her leg and says, "Oh no, wolf spider bit-ted me!"

It was hilarious. A wolf spider has since bitten her numerous times and it bit one of her babies too. And she's not only telling tales about spider bites, one day her chin was a little red and I asked her what happened and she said that Oscar bit her. Totally not true as he was sleeping on top of a couch cushion. So I know we should correct her and teach her not to tell fibs and the importance of being honest...it's just that the way she says "wolse pider" is really cute!

This was a couple of weeks ago, splashing around after story time at Discovery Green with cousins. She's so cute, and that's no lie! Now I'm off to repair the damage from Saturday's birthday party. It's a busy week on the blog with a couple of cute kids and a newborn session coming up. Not to mention party pictures!