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I knew there was a reason I was telling Paris not to drink the four day old wading pool water yesterday! Cassius found some mysterious larvae swimming in it today and wanted to take a closer look at them under our digital microscope.
He was compassionately thinking of ways he could care for them forever, until a image search revealed that they were mosquito larvae! Since he been waking every night since our camping trip crying “make the itching stop!” he suddenly decide that wasn’t a good idea to keep the pool filled with stagnant water until we move. The strange tube at the end of their tails are breathing tubes. The magnifigation 10X and the large mosquito measures 208 pixles. (8 millimeters I think)
We found the following information on the Kids Splash Website:
When a female Mosquito is ready to lay her eggs, she searches for stagnant (still) water with plenty of rotting detritus and bacteria for her larvae to eat. Her antennae can smell the gas that the bacteria make when they decompose detritus. More gas means more food for her young!
The Mosquito goes through four stages during its life cycle: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The eggs normally hatch into larvae within 48 hours. Larvae must live in water from 7 to 14 days depending on the water temperature. During this time, the larva molts 3 times and grows to almost 1 cm. After the larva molts the fourth time it becomes a pupa. The pupa is lighter than the water and floats on the surface. The pupa does not eat. In 1 to 4 days, the adult Mosquito comes out of the pupa. It rests on the surface of the water until its body dries and hardens enough to fly away.
We now officially have a bike riding kid! I knew he could do it once he found his own motivation. I wrote this last January:
The main thing stopping him is that HE DOESN’T WANT TO. Why he doesn’t want to is in a way besides the point, because until he decides he does, it’s going to be a uphill battle to teach him. When he decides he wants to do it, he’ll be able to learn quickly, as it is obvious he has the ability.
It is us, his parents, that want him to learn to ride a bike. Why? Because a seven year old should know how to ride a bike! What if he never learns?!
After I wrote this Cassius kept trying, for us, to ride his bike, with many tears and cries of “this isn’t any fun!” We are carless again and are trying to find ways besides the bus to get around. So we got a trail-a-bike so we could take Cassius along on bike rides.
I was hoping that the feel of the wind in his face would give Cassius the motivation he needed. The first time he was terrified and miserable but had no choice but to hold on for dear life! Surprisingly he went with his dad again the next day, and this time he loved it! “I felt the wind in my face! It was so much fun!” It didn’t matter how many times we told him he would love it, he actually had to experience it for himself.
Right after his second ride he asked to try his own bike – and did it! He’s gone out everyday since then, and has had a few falls, but is now officially a cyclist!
