Summer of Cicadas

I don't think there were cicadas in Alaska, so my first real exposure to them was when we lived with my grandparents in Iowa during my fifth grade year. As in Kansas, the summer evenings in Iowa are filled with the sounds of cicadas, and my grandpa, noting my interest, taught me a lot about them.  I learned about their life cycle, and particularly about the exoskeletons, and also that although many people call them locusts, they are not actually locusts.  I've always remembered the things he taught me and have ever since had an affinity for cicadas.

This summer, Joshua has really taken notice of them and gotten excited about them.  In addition to the regular annual cycle of locusts, the Brood IV (aka Kansan Brood) is a 17-year periodical cicada, and 2015 was their once-every-17-years time to emerge from the ground.  And sure enough, they emerged this year as expected.  We didn't see many of them in our yard, but Mom and Ron had a ton of them, almost coating some of their trees.  That brood has somewhat creepy orange eyes, which make them stand out from the regular ones.  But the regular ones are good enough for Joshua.  He has gotten very good about spotting them in trees after I taught him to follow the sound, and now he gets very excited and will yell out, "Dad! "Dad!  I found a cicada!  Can you get him for me?"  Here you can see him literally jumping up and down with excitement.

I've taught him, following the same lessons Grandpa taught me, that cicadas are good bugs, and that there is a proper and gentle way to hold them so we don't hurt them.  After I caught a few to show him, and let the cicadas walk on me, he has wanted to be brave and have the cicada walk on him, but he's a little scared of their slightly prickly feet.  At first he was willing to let them walk on his hand, but not onto his arm.

But one time recently, he decided he was brave enough to handle it, and I was sure to capture a picture of it, as it was really hard for him to be that brave, but he was really proud that he did.  Since then though, he hasn't been able to do it again, as the sharp little feet are too much for him.  Recently he has been making prayer requests during our dinner and nightly prayers that I pray that God helps us find cicadas (sometimes we look but don't find any, so he would like God to assist us) and that he is brave enough to let them walk on him.  He is so excited though, and at some point on most evenings or weekend days he will pretty much beg me to go outside with him to try to catch a cicada.  He says, "Dad, you are fast enough to catch cicadas!"  So I do, and then we spend time appreciating and admiring the cicada and working on his bravery with it before letting it go (usually so it can "go home to be with its family" or "go home for dinner" or "go to bed").  I'm guessing by next summer, he'll be ready to have them walk on him more.

But if he needs inspiration, he can always look to Chicken Baby, who shows no fear about having a cicada walk all over her.