bugs, bugs, bugs!!

i don't think i could possibly know any more about bugs than i do at this moment.
colby is freakishly obsessed with bugs. like, even more than he was with sea animals, and i thought that was pretty intense.
his room is decorated in bugs, he reads books about bugs, he watches documentaries about bugs, he looks for bugs, he talks about bugs, he shares bug facts with random strangers (the lady in the checkout line at HEB, or the cashier at the yogurt shop). i could keep going.
dont get me wrong. i think its funny, and hes truly passionate about it, but when we're eating in a restaraunt and he very loudly (because thats the only way he knows how to talk, just like his papaw) starts up about how bugs digest their prey, it can be a little much, if not for me, then for those sitting around us trying to enjoy their meal.

we were on our way to church sunday morning and he asked me
colby: "mommy, whats your favorite parasite?"
me: "uuummmm.....well. i've never really thought about it."
colby: "wanna know what mine is?"
me: "sure."
colby: "its the one that lives on the mosquito and when the mosquito bites you the parasite crawls into the wound and lives in your stomach. i cant remember what its called."
me: "wow, ok. why do you like that one?"
colby: "i just like the way it looks. its cute, like a little worm."
me: "you like the way it looks? did you see it on one of your bug shows?"
colby: "yep! on that one that you recorded for me on animal planet."
(yes, i DVR anything about bugs for him. ok, so i encourage it...a little.)
me: "well, i dont think i have a favorite parasite."
colby: "thats ok."
me: "thanks."

he's also told me that he wants to turn his room into a bug and parasite labratory. he wants to be an entomologist (study bugs) when he grows up, but he wants to work at home. Lord, help me.

on the other hand, i've been able to use his love for bugs to get him to pracitce his reading.
just today i told him
me: "colby, if you want to be a bug scientist, you have to be able to read."
colby: "but why? i dont like reading."
me: "you have to know what kind of bugs you're dealing with and you have to know how to take care of them. if you can read you wont be able to figure any of that out."
colby: "alright. lets read, then."

we also pray for the bugs at bedtime.
we thank God for the bugs (and sea animals too, still...for now), and he prays that molly will stop stepping on them and squishing them.

i may make that prayer list before too much longer. we are down to 2 hissing cockroaches. we started with 5 about a year ago. how i've managed to involuntarily kill cockroaches.....
well, maybe he wont want to keep his bug labratory here after all, once he knows i'm a bug murderer.

rest in peace, cockroaches. i'm sorry i failed you.