jonah the moth warrior

Jonah has an immense fear of any sort of insect or small flying creature. Bees, flies, moths, spiders - all cause great fright. "Mommy! Mommy! A bee! Get it! Get it!" Annie, surprisingly, has become the defender of bugs and crawly things. I distinctly remember when her friend Nova told her not to squish a daddy long legs because it was a "living creature." I think she has actually taken this to heart and keeps telling Jonah why bugs are good. Jonah, of course, hears none of this as he is clinging to us in terror.

He spotted a moth in the house tonight and hysteria ensued. We tried convincing him that he was bigger than the moth and it couldn't hurt him but he would have none of it. He kept asking Annie to throw a pillow at it to which she replied, "But Jonah, moths are good!" So, we told him that if the moth got close to him then he could shoo it away with his hand. Evidently, "close" meant across the room on the ceiling, because as soon as he saw it again he started waving his arms madly yelling, "There it is! Shoo away! Shoo away!" He then got out his sword and stalked it around the house. We tried to get it on video, but this is the best we wound up with: