The Best Laid Plans of Gerbils and Moms Often Go Astray...

I want you to know that my current situation was not one of my random, spur of the moment escapades. In fact, I thought and prayed for a couple weeks and had mentioned my thoughts to Anthony multiple times. Yet, despite all of this, my wonderful idea/plan for a classroom pet has gone horribly and laughably wrong.

It all started about a month ago. I had been working on giving N more chores and responsibilities. We started with folding towels and making his bed but, I was searching for something that he could trully be responsible for. I wanted to start developing the ideas of husbandry and caring for God's creation in the boys. And while we do have a dog, at 110lbs, Chase is a "little" daunting. He is more like our school's burly security guard than a classroom pet.

I started doing some research and in my mind I was thinking a little 5 gallon fish tank, or maybe growing a little garden in a pot, and at the outer limits a caring for a small bird. Notice a rodent is NO where on the list. I  have had traumatic experiences with rodents in the past. There was Speedy, the hamster I had as a child. He did not get that name because he loved to run in his wheel. Houdini would have been a better name for him or maybe Fang. And then there were the mice that I was in charge of  in college as a Biology TA... I can still hear in the panic in my suitemate's voice when she told me the mice had escaped not only their cages but the lab. Elementary Ed majors do not do well with random white mice inviting themselves to lecture. Needless to say, I just do not trust rodents.

Tunip and Callie

But, instead of presenting the idea of a fish or a plant to Anthony, I asked for his help deciding. FYI, you should really think about the consequences before delegating certain decisions. Delegating the research to Anthony was my downfall, the moment where I lost the battle/war/all sanity. Anthony found after much researching that gerbils were the best fit for our boys ages and abilities. (Well, actually rats were first on the list, but given my past rodent experience, he skipped them.) And... I got lost in the rational points presented to me. I even thought, how bad can gerbils be? They are the "nice" rodents. I have never heard anyone complain about gerbils. Also, gerbils prefer to have a
friend, so I would not have to interact with them, they provide their own entertainment.  The cage was super cute and the bedding was scentfree and 99.5% dust free.  What was there not to like?

Now, I did remember that rodents are conniving and our track record was at best bumpy. I even did my due diligence, and I asked the pet store three times if there was ANY way Tunip and Callie could be pregnant. She promised me no...she promised (insert eye-twitch)...

I will admit that Anthony's research was correct. N can totally care for Tunip and Callie. We have to assist him a little with cleaning the cage, but otherwise the gerbils have been great classroom pets. And they met my goals...for two weeks...

And then, Tunip betrayed me. Like I said, rodents and I do not get along well. And for some reason I seem to always be on the losing end.

Say hello to Kwazii, Peso, Barnacles, and Tweak.

A joyful heart is good medicine...

Proverbs 17:22a (ESV)