Will's First Pets

Lately we have seen a random roly poly here or there in the yard so we have pointed them out to the kids and let them hold them. Tuesday morning Will ran inside to get me to tell me he found a roly poly. I asked him if he picked it up, and he said no, because he peed on it (is that how you spell that word???). it seems as though he was outside and decided to go pee in the corner of the yard and while he was doing so he noticed a roly poly on the ground. anyways, i decided to look around to see if i could find another one. we played with a few, and then came inside, and the tv show "sid the science kid" was on (we've never ever seen this show before, but it's pretty cute!) and sid busts out with a container of roly polys for show and tell! how funny is that?! so we decide yesterday to keep some. we have experimented with food - they don't like crackers or cheese, or will's ham and cheese sandwich that he so kindly fed to them. i read on wikipedia that they feed on decaying wood and that they like moisture. so now we have some leaves and grass, some branches, and those things that come from pine trees that i can't describe (not the pine needles). they actually seem to like those the best. and we sprayed some mist in there for them. Will LOVES them and doesn't let them out of his sight. except for when he wants to leave them outside so they can breathe (inside they must keep their lid on). he's pretty adorable with them. he calls them "my pets". he keeps saying he needs to go check on "my pets". he wanted to sleep with them last night, so i let him put them on the night stand next to the bed. they are all still alive so far. we have 8 of them. i'm sure they will "die" while we're in tampa and scott will have to throw them out, so i'll prepare will for this before we leave. (really what will happen is scott will release them as soon as we leave).