Teaching Jeremiah, A Journey into the Mind of an Asperger's Child

May. 19, 2008

Caterpillar Crazy

After our "Very Hungry Caterpillar" unit study Jeremiah was fixated on a caterpillar of his own. We were blessed enough to have a milkweed plant with a baby on it given to us. Now we own a butterfly habitat and did the ordering of larvae and watching them grow, morph, and re-emerge as new creations, but it had been so long ago that Jeremiah did not remember like the other kids did. So we decided to do it again, only this time with a found caterpillar and not a mail order one.

Here was our baby caterpillar...

I know he's hard to see, but he is on the second flower stem from the left. As he grew, Jeremiah talked to him, read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to him, and I even overheard him telling the caterpillar he would teach him how to walk one day! When we first brought the caterpillar home, Jeremiah put two of his matchbox cars in the dirt at the base of the milkweed just in case he wanted to "go for a ride while we're sleeping". We would also overhear him asking the caterpillar if he was hungry and wanted an apple or some oranges!

Munching

Jerry Reading to Him

As you can see, our caterpillar grew and grew. Finally, after a few weeks, I feared he would leave the safety of his plant in front of my window to search for a place to make his cocoon and that we'd never find him again until he hatched and was flying frantically around the living room. I snipped a portion of the plant off, put it in a small cup of water, and placed it and its resident into our butterfly habitat. I was careful to give him fresh snippings of plant when he needed them and also to keep Louis clear of him.

He seemed to do well for a few days, but them became lethargic. Ok, I know what you're thinking, but I really could tell there was a difference in his behavior! He wasn't eating anymore and was hanging funny from his leaf (and not the way a caterpillar hangs when it's ready to form it's chrysallis).

I removed the plant from the habitat and set it next to his old milkweed home by the window. At first, he seemed to perk up just a little and even moved back to the old plant. But he never did start eating again and then, a few days later, he hung funny again from one of its leaves like he had in the habitat. This morning he was dead.

Not sure what we did wrong and I'm sure Jeremiah will be unhapppy when he makes the discovery (he's still sleeping), but maybe next time. Maybe the mail order larvae (painted ladies) are more resilient than the monarchs.