Josiah Showers with a Bat

Last night Devon came upstairs after going to bed and said he saw a thing about 5 inches wide flying around his room. He got up and turned on the light, but he couldn't find it. I teased him by saying it was probably a bat. Hopefully it just ate bugs and wouldn't bite him while he slept. We assured him we were kidding and decided together that it must have been a moth. (Bats are not allowed...they freak me out!)

This morning, Josiah jumped in the shower before school. He saw a black lump on the shower curtain, but thought it was poop. (Which is also disturbing, but not always surprising at our house.) When he turned the shower off and moved the curtain, the lump moved a claw. Then it spread it's wet wings. Thank goodness this was not me because I would have been in hysterics. Joe quickly got dressed and came up to tell me that there was a bat flying around downstairs. (I'm not sure what he thought I was going to do.) I did what any mother would do...told him to get dad and locked myself in the bathroom.

Greg got up and went downstairs with all the kids. All of whom were screaming, and yelling. Not from fear, but absolute excitement. Josiah barely missed grabbing it. Devon came running up and was yelling through the bathroom door that he wanted the bat for a pet. He stomped back downstairs when I had to tell him, "No Way, No How!" Did you notice my great mothering instincts to protect my kids? I was not about to open that door for anyone. Greg finally whacked it with a broom and threw it outside in the bushes. Josiah was convinced that it was going to fly in the house again. I did not come out of the bathroom for at least 5 minutes after the bat had been released into the wild.

We have a huge bat house and we live by a creek. I'm fine with having all the bats as long as I never see them. They eat bugs and are great to have around. I, however, plan to never see or touch one. Thank goodness Greg came home a day early from his hunting trip, or I would still be locked in the bathroom.