Praying Mantis

Two Stella stories real quick! A few nights ago I was getting her ready for bed on her little air mattress. Lately she has been worried that I am going to leave or run away or something like that. I always assure her I will never leave her. So, she said something to that effect, "Are you going to run away and leave me with Daddy and Uncle Adam?" And I said, "No, Honey I will never leave you." And she said, "I want to keep you forever." And my whole heart almost burst because little does she know, I feel so strongly the same way. And I just hugged her and tried to soak up that moment as much as possible.

Then last night we were reading The Grouchy Ladybug as our bedtime story. She really likes that book, and she has for a while even though it's a little advanced. So, we get to the page with the Praying Mantis on it. Keep in mind we have read this book over a dozen times. But tonight she said, "I don't know what a Praying Mantis is." It took me a second to understand for some reason. But I know she has never actually seen one, probably not even a picture of a real one. She said, "But I don't know what it is." So I told her, "It is a type of bug, Praying Mantis is the name of it." Then I guess she understood. But I think the word Praying was confusing her as a title.