There have been a lot of flies in our house lately. Ava derives great pleasure from following them from room to room, screaming at me to “Get them!” But she turns tail and runs as soon as one heads her way. Until last evening.
We were just finishing dinner, and Leah had brought the fly swatter up from the basement to do a little TCB. There were a couple flies buzzing around the table, and once Ava saw how her mom worked the swatter, she picked it up and approached a fly that had come to rest atop the back of one of our dining room chairs. As she crept up on it, I thought, “that fly’s going to take off as soon as Ava gets anywhere near it.” So imagine my surprise when my daughter struck out with lightning speed and squashed the fly right there on the chair. I don’t know which of us was more amazed. I yelled, laughing, “You got it!” Ava appeared a bit shocked, with a big smile on her face. She started doing a little dance in place, waving the swatter around, then began yelling for her mom to come look. It may have been the largest production ever made over a dead fly.
Ava went on to kill one more fly before we got her into her bath. I was amazed at her reflexes and accuracy. Poom Poom is no doubt going to be thrilled to have another hunter in the group when we head to Grand Marais in a couple weeks. I can’t wait for Ava to demonstrate her skills.
The downside, of course, is that we can longer say that Ava would never hurt a fly.