When Your Future Paleontologist Discovers Entomology

So apparently Theo has expanded his scientific interests beyond dinosaurs to include… living specimens.

When Your Future Paleontologist Discovers Entomology

This morning he burst into the kitchen holding what I can only describe as a beetle the size of a small car, demanding that I admire his ‘rare find.’

As a pediatric nurse, I’ve dealt with plenty of gross things. Blood, vomit, mysterious rashes - bring it on. But there’s something about bugs that just makes my skin crawl.

The pride of a young scientist

You can see the exact moment my maternal instincts battled with my bug phobia. Maternal instincts won, but barely.

The best part?

My face says ‘fascinated mother’ but my body language says ‘NOPE’

Theo launched into a fifteen-minute lecture about beetle classification while I tried to look fascinated from a safe distance across the kitchen island. Marcus, obviously, thought this whole thing was hilarious enough to document. The jar is now residing safely on the back deck, where Theo can visit his ‘specimen’ without giving me a heart attack every time I want coffee.

The full scene: enthusiastic paleontologist meets reluctant audience

Motherhood: where you learn that ‘encouraging their interests’ sometimes means pretending giant bugs are fascinating while internally screaming.