“No Lanie! It’ll get died and have X’s for eyes!”

Kids are precious in their own sinister death-dealing way. Especially when it comes to pets and the smaller the better. Normally I don’t watch the kids like a hawk when they’re playing with the cats. Of the 3 cats, the two that are brave enough to go near them also know when to run… usually.

The hamster however… that’s another story. One loves it way too much while the other would probably squish it given half a chance and then say something like “ham-ter sleeping”. I thought for sure that when we brought home the first hamster right before Christmas and after it had 7 babies that at least one of them would meet an untimely end at the hands of a 2 or 5 year old. Or a cat.

Riley’s actually very good with the little hammie that we kept. (took the mom back with the babies as she was a biter… why keep a pet the kids are afraid of?) She lets Lanie pet it during hamster-time and keeps the cats away. This post is dedicated to the way kids precieve the world around them. Today Lanie wanted to hold the hamster which we don’t let happen as she holds very tight. Lanie grabbed the ham and Riley grabbed it back and said: “No Lanie! It’ll get died and have X’s for eyes!”

X’s… for eyes… That’s right everyone! When pets die their eyes turn into little X-shapes. After I picked myself off the floor and stopped laughing you’d think we would try to explain that it doesn’t happen. But no… in fact until now my plan has been to glue X’s on it when it does eventually kick-it. Why ruin her childhood?

Anyway, here’s some hamster pics. The babies before we took them back, the keeper and best buds. Oh, and in the tradition of childhood pet-naming conventions, the baby is named Ellie… same as the mom was.