Lydia is very reactive and emotional.  She did not take well to the news that Fatso had died.  She cried.  The boys wanted Fatso's body for scientific exploration (Can we cut him open?!), but Lydia would not allow that.  In the end, he was returned to the earth, after a short prayer to the Creator of life, about the wonder of life and transformation.
We were encouraged to receive the following note from a teacher friend:  "Don't feel personally responsible if Fatso doesn't make it out of his chrysalis. Four teachers at my school, including me, have had monarch caterpillars and chrysalids in our classrooms this fall and the success rate has been terrible. I've had monarchs in my classroom for about the last 4 or 5 years and I've never seen a year when they did so poorly. I don't think a single one of my 4 caterpillars is going to make it successfully to the butterfly stage. One caterpillar died around the time it should have made a chrysalis, one butterfly died coming out of the chrysalis, another is turning black in its chrysalis and I have one last green chrysalis that is taking way too long to become transparent. Hopefully Fatso is just taking his time but if he doesn't make it, I just wanted you to know it may have nothing to do with how you've cared for him."  Lydia was reassured to know this, (and so were we!)
We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Herrle family today.  Lydia enjoyed seeing cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents.  With grateful hearts, we remember how far she has come since Mother's Day, when we were all last together.