And just how do I know that?

Did you know ladybugs put off an odor when they are attacked? Well, they do. Want to know how I know?

Our  house has been overrun with lady bugs this year.  Every single ladybug within a three mile radius of our house has decided to take comfort from the cold winter in the warmth of my bathroom.

Sarah has recently decided that she no longer loves ladybugs like most little girls do. I can only imagine this disdain for the once beloved ladybug comes from the fact that she has been terrorized one to many times this winter by their dropping into her bath water while she is performing a musical number into the mirror with her hair done up in suds.

(The above may be the worlds longest sentence with no punctuation.  I should probably toss in a comma or two, but it's Friday so I'm throwing caution to the wind.)

Last week while the kids were brushing their teeth, I heard Peter scream, "No Sarah!! Don't do it! Leave that ladybug alone!"

maniacal laughter

"Mom!  Make her stop!  Sarah's killing the ladybugs!"

I separated them, calmed them down and set them off to bed and thought nothing of it until the next night.  Sarah was sitting on top of my bathroom counter while I was drying her hair.  She was busy with something and I didn't pay any attention until she nonchalantly said, "Ladybugs smell bad when you pull off their wings."

There, laying in a tiny pile, were bits and pieces of a ladybug. She had dismembered it using nothing more than cuticle scissors and the precision of a neurosurgeon.

She did this again the next night and I asked her why she couldn't just flush it down the toilet.  "Because this is more fun" was her simple answer.

And now that she has pointed out the strange odor they put off when being bothered (if you call having their wings removed and their legs pulled off  "being bothered"), I too, notice a strange smell when I pick one up to flush it.

And that my friends, is how I know that ladybugs put off an odor when being attacked!

**I had to Google this and ladybugs do indeed emit a small amount of smelly blood from their legs if they are disturbed or sense they are in danger.  ICK!  And I hope by now they have all spread the word that if they see a cute 6-year-old with cuticle scissors coming their way, they should fly away home!