Baby Munce and a Monarch

Among the numerous visitors over this last week, Sullivan was fortunate enough to meet his Great Aunt Jo, my mom's sister. She made a quick stop over on Friday evening while Dave was on call and dropped off a gift for Sullivan. This gift was a bit different than most, it was a dirty clear plastic cup with a small oval thing inside and was given to me with specific instructions...

There was more than what met the eye, that little oval thing inside was a cocoon, which had been spun on Sully's birthday. What a treat! Jo told me they usually hatch in 10 days, so to be on the look out on Sunday to see what happened. Sure enough, as I was scrambling to get out of the house with my hands full, what was in the cup stopped me in my tracks. The monarch had hatched, and was patiently waiting in the cup for me to set it free. As I released it, I frantically grabbed for my camera and happened to get the perfect shot just as it flew away. It will be fun to tell Sullivan the story someday and to search for "Sully's monarch" in the years to come.