That's My Boy!

My heart skipped a beat the other day - and I imagine its the same skip my mom's heart did when I was a kid. I don't know why, but I have this huge insanely physiological fear of anything critter related ... bugs, rodents, anything that resembles a rodent and even the bigger 'animals' that remind me of rodents (raccoons and such). I've been known to run screaming from the park when a bee flies too close to me (leaving my kids to fend for themselves). Crazy, I know, but I just have this reaction.
Well, my son has either learned it or (I prefer to think) inherited this same fear. Ed and I were chatting in our den the other night while the kids played in the backyard. The backdoor was open, so we could hear them. All of a sudden, Jake comes running toward the house in a DEAD PANIC ... I mean, without witnessing it for yourself, you just can't fully comprehend the scene. Ed and I both ran to the backyard to see - and by this time Jake is in a full-blown-screaming-no-chance-of-a-rational-thought state of mind. He was pointing to his leg, so we started to investigate and as it turned out, yes, there was indeed a bug on his leg. With all the commotion, the bug managed to escape but was promptly stomped for such misbehavior. I'm chuckling as I type this because once we knew what was wrong, I couldn't do anything but laugh. I KNEW this was me in a little boy's body. I felt immediate pangs of guilt for what I must have put my mom through as a kid and for what I might have possibly passed on to my boy (through genetics, of course).