Hamster's in the HOUSE

K came home from Activity Days Tuesday night and immediately asked me if she could have a hamster. We had discussed this before and had decided that it wasn't a good idea. First off we have a cat, and as much as I love Winston, I'm not blind to the fact that he is a cold blooded killer! I know hamsters like to 'escape' so one little break out from a little rodent would surely mean his end. The other reason for not getting a hamster is the fact that my dear, manly, studly, hubby is deathly afraid of rodents. We are talking, squeal like a girl, run out of the room, jump up on a chair, afraid! It all stems back to childhood, and field mice, and a really mean big brother.

So I thought the subject was closed until Tuesday. I immediately told her no, but asked why the sudden interest, and where said hamster was going to come from. She told me her Activity Day leader was selling their hamster and all the supplies to go with it for a mere $10. My first thought was this leader was BRILLIANT for announcing this sale amid 15-20 tween girls who love anything small, cute, and cuddly. My second thought was this was a good deal. Still I stuck to my guns and remained firm on my NO.

Chris walks into the room where we are having this discussion and K promptly turns to him and asks if she can have a hamster, to which he immediately answers, YES!! Seriously...what???!!! I couldn't believe my ears, the man who goes running from a mouse like a 6 year old girl is saying yes to the cousin of mice. (I don't know if mice and hamsters are actually cousins, but they do look very similar) Well after you say yes to a 10 year old, there's no taking it back, it's like a rule or something. So yesterday after school we went and picked up who we now call Cornelius. He's cute and fluffy, and noisy at night, and only bites sometimes, and will probably stink up the whole house, but our little girl is the happiest one on the planet right now and that alone was worth the $10.

As a side note, yesterday when I was talking to C about picking up the hamster, he was freaking out. He asked what would happen if it escaped from it's tank of water and crawled into his room and pinched him? I didn't understand at first but then I quickly realized that he thought we were getting a LOBSTER, and really had no idea what a hamster was at all. Last night when we brought it home he was VERY relieved!