Caterpillar....what do you eat?

Just when I might think life is "normal" or uneventful, something happens...life happens! This time...cute and funny.
Chloe has been learning about insects in Kindergarten. It just happened that Laurel and Anabelle were learning about butterflies on the same day. They all came home from school and were discussing insects vs butterflies. Now, I am no expert, but I assumed a butterfly was an insect. Chloe told the girls that was not correct. They all came in screaming to me to tell the other one "they were right". I told them Chloe must be right! I mean, she is in Kindergarten. Ok, this is one sign that you need to slow down when you have differed to the education level of Kindergarten as the end all be all! But she is the only other one that can read(well till daddy comes home). So, finally I get them to all go play. I hear screaming....kind of like if you got your leg cut off....but also like winning the lottery. All 3 girls come running in. They are surrounding Chloe and smiling ear to ear. Clearly no one got a leg cut off...however, this could mean they all tied Corbin up and left him to be licked to death by the dog. Thankfully, that was not the case. Chloe had her hand in the stiffest blade hand pose I have ever seen. And there standing tall, is if he was saying..."Here I am!" was a Caterpillar! Long and fuzzy, and crawling around Chloe's hand. I think I said take it outside 10 times before I let them show me how excited they really were. They wanted to show him to Corbin, but he could care less. He couldn't stay still long enough to see what was going on...that is Corbin, not the Caterpillar. So I told the girls they needed to make a home for him. They found one of the bug houses they got for St Patrick's day(yes they got a gift!). They made a home for him and were so thrilled. Ninny was very insistent that he remind outside. The girls all checked on him a number of times before bed. He was crawling everywhere!
We all went to bed. I think a few prayers were said for the Caterpillar. Then 1 hour later, it was time to get up and ready for school(ok, not really but that is what it felt like to me. Usually when I go in to get Chloe, everyone is asleep. However, this morning everyone was awake and faking sleeping. But once I got Chloe I could tell they were all full of energy. It was so cute to see all 3 girls run outside in jammies at 7am to check on the Caterpillar. And then I saw the saddest 3 faces I have ever seen. Mr. Caterpillar was not moving. He was dead. They were all so sad. I said maybe he was cold and just needed to come in for a while. Chloe cut a piece of fabric for him and covered him up. Then we accept the fact that he was gone. His home was put back outside. They were all sad about the dreary morning.
The girls and Corbin went on to school and I went to work. Then, I read a facebook "update" on my mom's facebook. This is after I have picked the girls and Corbin up from their classes and sent them on with mom for the rest of my work day. The update read...

"Kids found a caterpillar last night. They put it in a bug container. Very sad this morning when they said he was dead and they cried. But - it turned in to a great day. This afternoon he was alive!!!! Lots of big smiles around this house."

Now, can you believe this dumb Caterpillar played dead all morning so we could morn his loss all day. I think he might be a little "drama" for me...
So now all the talk is about him becoming a butterfly. I went online to see what all we needed to do....did you know how finicky caterpillars are? They will starve themselves before they eat the "wrong" food. How am I suppose to know what this guy likes? I looked it up and tried to compare his picture with some on the internet. I am officially going to have nightmares. There are some creepy caterpillars out there! Finally I had Chloe show me exactly where she found him. So then we took some of the grass right there. I mean, if someone found you...it isn't likely to be eating at a restaurant you hate, right? It was also recommend to put a stick in the container. The list went on and on... I really think the Caterpillar is going to have to just make it on his own. I already have a fish named swimmie that I think should have died almost a year ago...he just waits for me to remember to feed him. The dog only gets fed when Fred comes home. She doesn't in try to get me to feed her. Poor thing. I have 5 other mouths to try and feed. So the Caterpillar and the fish are on their own.
So, now we wait for the shedding and the pupa stage....I also read I needed to make sure the stick was long enough that when the butterfly opens his wings for the first time, they don't touch the ground. This will cause a defect and he will never fly. Within 4 to 6 days they go off and mate. Hmmmm....maybe we should make sure he can't fly...I think that is a little young!

Oh..and they are insects!