Pets

Once upon a time, we had one little fish in a bowl. Sweet Goldie(s) (1 and 2). Beautiful Goldie. Quiet, content, mess free Goldie. I miss you. May you rest in peace. To read about the tragic passing of the best pet ever, read here.

After Goldie, A loving Grammy, and thoughtful Aunt, surprised us with a new puppy. Don't let her looks fool ya, Minnie was a handful, and more than one super duper mom could handle, so in a moment of pregnant frustration, I opted to send our sweet puppy on an extended vacation to Grammy and Titi's house. I still get choked up when I think back to that day. I loved Minnie, and I still really truly do, but I had to protect my children by protecting my sanity, and Minnie had to go. Sariah was devastated! I reassured the kids that Minnie was only going for a visit until she wasn't a puppy anymore, and could behave herself. That seemed to pacify all the kids for a while. Then yesterday, Sariah brought this home:

Thanks a lot MLK! Children don't need to dream! In case you can't read the caption it says "I have a dream . . . my puppy would come back to my house." {Sigh.} To this day, every time we go to my mom's Sariah says "Minnie was a good girl, can she come home today?" It's been roughly two years since Minnie's exodous. I really thought Sariah would have "let it go" by now. {Sigh.}

For Christmas, Meilani got a hamster. Although, she's more Liam's pet than Meilani's. He plays with her every single day. Well, unless he's on restriction from throwing her in the air, or holding her upside down by her paw. She's likely going to die of a heart attack. Yep, a heart attack for sure. Liam likes to put her in his little race track. She even goes up and down in the elevator. Second best pet, after Goldie. I even love her. I was worried after the hissing episode I endured when I tried to put her in her cage the first time, but she's been so so calm, easy going, and even cute, cuddly and lovable, since then. The only drawback: I find the purple bedding that goes in her cage all over the house. Mostly because Meilani isn't super careful when she changes Squeakers' cage. I can't blame the hamster.

Seth's a big fan too.

Then Ben came home with this yesterday!!! What? Henry is his name, well, I hear it was Fluffy, but it's now officially Henry. Ben delivered the "good news" by sending me a text with "Look what I got for free!" I didn't realize the reason we didn't have a bird is because we couldn't afford one!? We had considered getting Liam a bird for Christmas. I even considered getting Ben one for Christmas for his office, but decided against it because I like his secretaries too much, and realized that the bird would still have to come home on the weekend and holidays. Henry's pretty loud. And did I mention that I don't really care for birds? The flapping, the poop. Not my ideal pet. But how do you get rid of the "cool free bird" that your "cool Dad" husband brought home without becoming the mean animal hating mom who gets rid of all the pets?

We also have a cat. You didn't know? For the last six months, Liam has spent roughly sixty percent of his time, living life as "Roxy Kitty." Shortly after we moved in to our new house, we found a stray dog named, you guessed it, Roxy. We had Roxy in our backyard for an hour or so, until we found the owner, and in subsequent days, came to realize that Roxy Dog gets out of her yard frequently. And somehow from that experience, Liam invented his alter personality, Roxy Kitty. Roxy is actually much more cooperative that Liam is. If I say "Liam get your shoes on," he'll say "No, I'm Roxy," and then I'll say "Roxy, get your shoes on," and magically shoes get placed on the right feet (be it cat or boy). Roxy Kitty is also more helpful than Liam, fetching various things I need. Also, Roxy Kitty is Ben's pet. Liam will say "I'm Daddy's helper kitty." My mom and sister thought it was so funny, that they started asking him if he was my cat, just to get a laugh from his response. Liam's little charade never changes. I did have to put a few limits on Roxy Kitty, like, no Roxy at Joy School or church. Roxy cannot come out to play for activities that require a boy (ie, fun things like cooking with Mom). I consulted my psychologist friend today, and she assured me that Roxy Kitty is a pretty normal kind of thing for a kid Liam's age (in case your "weird kid" radar is going off! ;). I'm sure it's a phase.

And we also have a monkey! Why yes, Seth is standing in the middle of the kitchen island. He does this at least a hundred times a day. No lie. It's killing me. For a while, if I sat him on the counter he'd try to stand, and then I'd put him down on the floor. Now the little punk can climb the bar stools and help himself! Just today I majorly scratched up our new kitchen table because I had to put the kitchen chairs on top of the table so Seth wouldn't climb them. Last week, our playgroup met at my house and all the mom's gasped when they saw Seth standing on a chair. One of the moms alerted me, worried he was going to tip over, to which I replied "I hope he does, so he'll learn not to do that anymore." I'm expecting CPS any day now. I think maybe I need a monkey cage.