Hatching Dinosaurs

For Easter my son received a dino egg from his godparents. Within minutes of receiving the egg, it was in a bucket of water and surrounded by eight anxious children.

This particular egg was one that advertised to hatch within 12-24 hours so long as it remained fully covered in water. The directions advised to keep the water temperature below 99 degrees and above 32 degrees. No problem, right?

Well, the dinosaur hatched within the 24 hour time period (with only a little help from the kids) 😉

It was a beautiful triceratops. My son named her Peaches because of her peachy tone. She was our newest prized possession. Once the kids could no longer stand the torture of watching her grow in the bucket of water, out she came. (The directions suggested leaving the dinosaur in water for up to 36 hours for full growth.)

When we traveled to my grandmother’s to celebrate Easter, Peaches came along for the ride. Everything was great until it was time to hunt Easter eggs. As I stood up, my foot struck something under my chair and water sloshed onto the floor. What the heck?

I looked in the plastic bucket and saw what looked like Peaches, but not really. When I touched “Peaches,” she disintegrated between my fingers. It was really, really gross. The water was hot and the dinosaur was not.

The scramble for the egg hunt had my son distracted, so I took “Peaches” and dumped out most of the water. I didn’t want to dump all of her remains until a proper good-bye could be said (much later that evening).

After all the Easter eggs were found, dishes were done, and many of my family members were saying their good-byes, I pulled my son aside and asked where Peaches was. He smiled really big and said, “She is growing bigger. We got some really hot water so she would grow faster.”

My heart sunk.

“Son, did you know that Peaches was not supposed to be in hot water? Why did you put her back in water?”

“I just wanted her to grow more,” was his nervous reply.

“Well, buddy, the hot water made Peaches go soft and I don’t think she can be fixed.” (Worst Mom in the World!)

One tear slipped down his cheek. I showed him Peaches. He touched the goo that was once his beloved dinosaur. (I could tell he thought the goo was cool, but didn’t want to let on because it was NOT cool that it had been his triceratops.)

My cousin William is a priest. He said a kind blessing on Peaches’ remains and we buried her in the trash can. My son really cried then. I wanted to cry too but instead promised to find a new dinosaur egg to hatch.

I have gone back to the store where my sister-in-law bought the egg five (5) times since Easter. They have not had any dinosaur eggs in stock.

Last weekend I had to make a quick trip to Target. I always snoop through the dollar bins when I get there, and guess what I found!!! Dinosaur eggs!

They were not the same dino eggs. These were smaller, but I was able to buy one for each of my kiddos and one for my super sweet nephew. The dinos hatched in record time – 18 hours (with A LOT of help from the kids).

Now I have a herd of hatched dinosaurs on my kitchen counter. I keep threatening to put them in hot water, if someone doesn’t put them away, but I guess they are here to stay.

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. Once you hatch one, plan on hatching more. Those dinos are a lot of trouble.