Tiger Swallowtail Lifecycle

We all know how this story begins:

In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf.

Then, one day a little caterpillar POP! came out of the egg.

He ate and ate (my dill), and he got a little bigger.

Then 2 days later, he wasn't a tiny caterpillar anymore.  He was a BIG FAT caterpillar.

Then, after he was done eating and growing, he crawled over to the flowers.

Here he was met by an ugly mean praying mantis.

The human (me) hit the mantis with a wooden spoon (yea ok, I was a little scared of it), and it ran away.

After the caterpillar was safe, he made him self a little home, called a chrysalis.

He stayed inside for about a week, then out came.....

a male Tiger Swallowtail!

Solar Powered Rainbow Maker

One of our wedding gifts was a gift certificate to the MoMa store (Museum of Modern Art).  We had a difficult time picking items, but one of the things we chose is one of my favorite things that we own.

Its a Double Solar Powered Rainbow Maker!!!

Here is a photo of one you can buy online.  It is no longer available at the MoMa store :(
get one!

This thing is awesome because you can stick it and forget it.  The sunniest window in our home happens to be our bedroom window, so there it lives.  The baby and I hang out in there a lot.  That is where he takes his naps (in our bed).  He loves the dancing rainbows.  Here he is watching them.

We have had this for over a year now, and it has broken.  I've had to unscrew the tiny screws and piece it back together after it fell off a window in the kitchen a while ago.  I had to use tiny pliers to get the little metal teeth to grab onto the prisms again. Sometimes the gears need a little kickstart.

Overall, if this stopped working, I'd buy another one.  Prisms are a great way of introducing science to your baby without even realizing it.