We weren’t sure if all of our butterflies would emerge or not, so we were excited to arrive home over the course of a couple of days to find them all delicately fanning their wings in their mesh home. I wish we could have seen them actually come out of their chrysalises, but alas, such is life. It was exciting nonetheless just to see that they had survived their transformations.

We decided we would release them over the weekend on Saturday, but it was so blustery that we held off until Sunday.  I had talked to Enzo about releasing them and at first he didn’t want to because he wanted to keep them, but I explained that they would be happier if they could fly around outside.  He agreed, especially after Uzi discovered them and knocked their entire habit off the bookshelf. Thankfully they weren’t harmed, but it was clear that it was time to free them.

Josh is truly a butterfly whisperer. He was the only one they cooperated for, so he would carefully let them sit on his hand for a moment while they stretched their wings.  I think with each one, they only stayed until they felt a breeze or a gust of wind and then off they flew.  Some took off immediately, while others hung out a little longer, but with each it was ultimately the same. They would wait for a breeze to lift them up off of Josh’s hand (or in one case the deck) and then off they went in different directions.

Neither Phoebe nor Enzo wanted to try and hold a butterfly and as soon as they were gone their interest in the whole affair had waned entirely.  Our one worry was that birds would get them right away as I forgot about our permanent residents who apparently caught wind of what we were up to and started swooping around. Thankfully, I think the butterflies all escaped. We saw them later in the front yard when we went out to play and Josh to mow the lawn.

It was really fascinating to watch them grow from tiny caterpillars into butterflies. I think we’ll do it again when the kids are older and understand it a bit more.  It was almost a little sad when they flew away, and I’m not sure why and then I looked deeper into the symbolism of the butterfly and it all seems to make sense.  That, I think is a post for a different day, though.