Sophie Eats Bugs - Weak Stomach? Stop Now.

My delightful daughter is weird. Her love of all things bugs shows no sign of abating. In fact, her Christmas wish list includes things like a real microscope, a framed, preserved preying mantis and entomology textbooks.

Since no one around here is allowed to kill a bug (even a nasty fly), I did not know how she would react to a cricket lollipop. The lollipop was a gift from Susan who spotted this thing in some gift shop and immediately thought of Sophie. I thought that she might be upset that the cricket was dead and suspended in colored corn syrup. I was so wrong.

Sophie was thrilled. It may be because she had just read several books about people eating bugs in far off places around the world, but she thought this thing was the best gift she'd ever received. First she brought it to school and showed it to her entire class, then she showed the daycare kids and finally she started eating the thing. I thought several of the boys would lose their lunch when she had sucked down far enough that a little leg was poking free. I may have felt a bit of a dry heave myself when she chomped off the leg and ate it, but that's Sophie for you. She is fearless.


She did not end up eating the entire thing. I don't think it actually tasted very good. She said she could not eat the head because she could not be sure they had removed the brains first. So, she did what any normal eight year old girl would do . . . she cut off the head and kept it for her bug lab.

I love this child.


My favorite part? She wrote "eat cricket" on her school planner.