Rolly Pollies and Missing Teeth

Suffix

-cide

1. Used to make nouns meaning the killing of the thing indicated by the first component of the word.

For example:  Pesticide:  a substance for killing pests
                       Fungicide:  a substance for killing fungus
                       Germicide: an agent that kills pathogenic organisms (grateful for this during flu season)
                       Giganticide: the killing of a giant, or one who kills a giant (Mickey Mouse)
                       Chronocide: the act of killing time (a personal favorite)

And the one for which we are guilty around here these days:
                       RollyPollyicide:  the act of killing rolly polly bugs

     It all started a few weeks ago when the weather turned warm and the kids were out enjoying nature come alive again.  Sydney, who I never would have taken for an entomologist, discovered lots of rolly polly's and decided to make a pet of one. 
 
     She got a little container, filled it with dirt and grass and brought it inside.  Everywhere she went, that little container with her friend went too.  She even wanted to bring it along when we ran errands.  That night she took it up to her room, bid the rolly polly goodnight and climbed into bed.  But, the next morning, Mr. Rolly Polly was belly up.  Sydney handled it well, probably because she knew there were plenty more outside to capture, which she did.  It is not unusual around here lately to see a little container with grass, dirt and rolly pollies sitting on the counter (and usually the rolly pollies are dead).  The other day she even tried including a slice of banana to keep the little fellas alive, but alas they went to rolly polly heaven too.

     Carter has also been swept up in the love (and torture) of rolly pollies, only he calls them "rolly rollies".  He likes to bend over them and yell, "Roll in a ball! Roll in a ball!"  all while poking at them. 
 
 
     Just yesterday Sydney brought a rolly polly over, all rolled up in a ball between her fingers, and explained how all she has to do is squeeze the bug a little and he will roll up in a ball, (I had to wonder how the rolly polly felt about that) after which she proceeded to find a "happy place" for the bug to live.  This ended up being on top of a flower, up off the ground.  To me this seemed rather like some giant person picking me up, squeezing me a little, and then placing me on top of a skyscraper and calling that my happy place.  I checked this morning to see if the little guy was still there on top of the flower, but he had managed an escape somehow, or he plummeted to his death adding one more number to the rolly pollies killed in Gordonville.

In other news, can you guess what is different about this little girl?

Sydney just lost two little teeth in two days!  This pricks my heart a little because I am really having a hard time with her getting so big!  The losing of the teeth was hilarious though, as both times she pulled them out herself, which really didn't bother her at all, until she saw the blood, at which point she started screaming (honest-to-goodness screaming, not sure if a career in the medical field is a good idea for this one).  The other big news with this event is that the Tooth Fairy DID actually remember to come two nights in a row.  This is big new because our Tooth Fairy is a little defunct and it often takes a few days before she shows up, we might need to petition for a new one!