Dear Levi,

Tuck & Roll, the Slaters from 'A Bug's Life'.

How much I love to hear you call out “mummy”. I feel so honoured to have that title.
Today I felt grateful that daddy has a job that allows me to stay home with you and your sisters. Things aren’t always easy here at home with three of you born within 39 months of each other. It can be quite crazy and some days I feel like I need to go on a long holiday all by myself. But today was one of those days where I felt grateful to be able to share yet another learning experience with you. Your sisters were napping and you came out the front with me to do some weeding in the garden. You love to chase ants and spiders with your finger and squish them now and then too. When I spotted a slater I knew this would bring you much joy. I held it up to your face so you could get a good view and you watched it crawl all over my hand. When I tried to put it in your hand you weren’t too sure about the way its tiny little legs tickled your skin so you dropped him to the ground.

Nyah awoke and came to see what was going on. Nyah is not one for bugs or any animals for that matter. She does like looking at birds and she is starting to warm to cats but YOU Levi are fascinated by anything that moves and breathes. I think you get this from me, although I must confess, I don’t like spiders one bit (except for Charlotte in the movie Charlotte’s Web). We showed Nyah the slater crawling all over my hand and she decided that she might like to have a hold of it. That was the end of it Levi, Nyah had formed a bond with that bug and she was not prepared to share him with you. She even named him Roly. Nyah carried ‘Roly’ inside to find a container to put him in. You and her then proceeded to put him in the bath of the dolls house and give him a 'wash'. After a while of playing with Roly, Nyah came to me and said “mummy, I think Roly is tired, I'm going to put him to bed (in the minature fisherprice dolls bed)”. I took a look at him sitting in the container and noticed that one of his little legs had broken off. I explained to Nyah that slaters are not meant to be kept inside in container and perhaps it would be best if we put Roly back where we found him. Nyah was also concerned at this point that Roly’s family might be missing him.

The three of us ventured outside to place Roly back where I had found him. To my astonishment, there was another slater. Nyah was convinced that this slater was Roly’s mother. We called her Poly just for fun. By this point, you had become quite comfortable with the slaters. You got to see Poly all curled up into a little ball and you were fascinated by all her tiny little legs when she lay on her back on your hand. You and Nyah played with Roly and Poly for a few minutes and then you decided it was time to put them under the bush where they came from.

Thank you for opening my eyes to your world of discovery. Your eyes danced, your faces beamed and your giggles brought music to a lonely street in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. This was pure delight.