Our New Family Member

Yesterday we had so much to do. Mr. Big had something going on in the morning so I took the boys out and went garage saling. One of my "finds" was a hamster cage for $1. It looked brand new as if a hamster had never lived in it. I walked up and it was sitting in their yard. The man that lived in the house jumped from his chair and declared "$1.00!". I laughed as I had just bent down to look at it. I asked if it had all the parts and he said it did so I dug a dollar from my wallet and handed it to him. Jacob was THRILLED! He knew that with a cage came a hamster. He has been asking for months for a new pet. He's also an animal lover like his parents.

We drove off from the garage sale and Jacob was holding the cage in his lap in the back seat. He started talking about the hamster that would live in the cage. He started telling me about the water bottle and the food bowl. He told me that we must buy shavings and food for the hamster. He went on and on about this cage and the hamster we'd buy to live in it. I was smiling from cheek to cheek. Joshua was a little parrot just mimicking everything he said. Blah, Blah, Blah, Hamster, is what I made out.

I promised Jacob that when Daddy got home that we would run up to Petsmart and get a hamster for the cage. I assured him that Daddy would love to help us pick out our new pet. He was very excited to tell Daddy about the new cage and even more excited to share that we would be buying a hamster today.

Once Daddy arrived home we ran up to Petsmart real quick before our next activity of the day and picked out our hamster. The hamster is about a three month old long-hair teddy bear hamster. It's a Boy! He's brown, grey and white with long tufts of hair. He has a sweet face and seems to have a good disposition. He allowed us to handle him at the pet store and wasn't too skiddish.

We picked out shavings for his cage. Food for his food bowl. And then we picked out a few novelty items like a ball for him to run around in the house and some wood planks to chew on. Did you know that hamster's teeth never stop growing and they must have wood to chew on? I had no clue!

We brought him home and put the cage together. We released him into his cage where he spent about three hours exploring and ultimately trying to find a hole to escape. He ran on his wheel, he climbed, he dug, he ate, he drank. He did everything a hamster should do. The boys are in love. For that, I'm happy.

You might ask what we have named him. Well, so far, no name. The funniest name by Jacob went like this.

Me: Jacob, what are you going to name your hamster?
Jacob: Mommy, How about Normal?
Me: Normal?
Jacob: Yes, Mommy, Normal. Norrrrrrmmmmmmaaaaaal.
Me: Hmmm... Well, He would be about the only normal thing in our house.