Stinkbug Stress

As of this writing, we have had exactly four stinkbugs in our house since they started reappearing in the area in late February. We had just one last summer that I know of, so this four-fold increase is disturbing.

All four known stinkbugs in the Lunday household have been spotted on the second floor: one in the hallway bathroom and the other three were found in my daughter's bedroom. The first one was meandering on the molding above her closet door. The second got closer to her bed by hanging out on the nearby plantation shutters. And the last one was the nerviest of all, walking her bed rail like a tight rope.

Anyone with kids knows that their kid’s bedroom is the worst possible place for the smelly bugs to show their creepy little faces. I hate bugs myself, though I'm accepting of their presence when they are on their own turf – outside, where they belong, I figure I have no right to meddle. But show up in my home, especially in my 3-year-old's bedroom, and I'm forced to pounce.

Our go-to solution for stinkbug containment thus far is the Dustbuster. I'm usually the first one to spot the bugs, which always seem to show up during the run-up to bedtime, of course (though the last one made the most traumatic appearance by showing up after Lucy was already in bed). So I'll casually say to my husband,  so as not to alert Lucy to the offending insect’s presence, "Joe, could you go get the Dustbuster?" and then with a quick flick of the vacuum's switch, the little bugger is on its way back to the great outdoors, and most likely the great beyond.

This worked on night one, but Lucy, who already passionately dislikes the Dustbuster and all a vacuums, is now wise to our scheme. She sees Joe walking up the stairs with it while she's putting on her jammies or brushing her teeth and she knows what's about to happen. Nothing like scaring the heck out of your kid right before sending her to bed. I hope she doesn't start to notice my discreet sheet flip to make sure there aren't any hiding in her bed before we settle in to read and snuggle. I don't want to plant any more worries in her head.

I've always been afraid of bugs, going back to when I was Lucy's age, as far as I can tell. For the longest time, spiders were my greatest intruding indoor insect fear. But now with stinkbugs and, heaven help us, bedbugs, all over the news, seemingly poised descend upon us all, wayward spiders seem so quaint. I can manage a brave front when my husband and I outnumber the bugs, but if our stray stinkbug population starts to gather its ranks and unionize, I hope I can remain just as brave for the sake of my daughter.