he caught a ladybug

 A few weeks ago, 
Nicholas made a bug bucket house.

He caught a ladybug, gave it rocks, leaves, and a cotton ball soaked in water for it to drink from.
He figured out that the wheel that broke off of the baby trike was a perfect fit for a lid.
 It took him several hours to set the house all up.

He tried to feed the ladybug, he checked on it several times an hour, and talked about how much fun it was to have his very own pet ladybug!

He kept the ladybug in there overnight, in the garage.

The next morning he discovered the ladybug was "sleeping."

I thought that meant it was dead....but no, it was just moving really slowly.

I suggested that he might want to consider letting the ladybug go, so that it doesn't die.

He spent a very long time on the steps, just looking at his pet, and then he came inside and 

announced that he was going to say goodbye to the ladybug.

His little shoulders fell and he started to cry.

My poor tender hearted little boy. 

But I was so proud of him for choosing to be kind,

even if it is just a little ladybug.