Bella's Legacy

We only had Bella for maybe three weeks, but she was a beloved family member. Carmel colored fuzzy biter, hamster with a tude for sure. Aiden and Cody loved her even when she was banging that dang wheel around in her cage at 3am.

The morning I walked into the room and realized her cage door was open, my heart sunk. It had to be like that over night and I knew she had a good head start on me. If we didn't hear or see her that day, chances were, we wouldn't, and I would have to come up with a story to tell the kids.. Aiden in paticular.

I had a fantastic story all worked up the next day, but I didn't get the chance. That morning, Aiden asked if we could put Bella in the ball. I said, well, no. He asked why not and I said, "Well, do you see anything funny about Bella's cage?" He looked at it and realized immediately the problem with the door being open.

"Oh NO!" He shreaked. "The door is open! Bella got out and the Dogs ate her!!"

There was no getting around it. There was some tears and a couple really hard days as we all searched the house in every crevice and floorspace of every room. The dogs were interrogated of course, but we didn't get much out of them but a suspicious smelly dog lick kiss.

After a couple days, Aiden realized we were not going to be able to find her. This is when he started making up fantastic stories of what could have been a possible alternative to being eaten by the dogs.

"Maybe she went out though the dog door, and decided she liked it outside." I would add in, "And she made friends with the squirrle, and she climbs up the trees and shares their acorns!" He would look at me and say, "Uh, no Mom. Hamsters don't eat acorns."

"Maybe she ran out the door and went over to Abby's house. Yeah, Bella went over there and scratched on the door. Abby heard her, and saw here there and took her in and let her stay with her at her house."

"Bella ran outside and decided she liked it there, so she's living under the porch. But we can't see her because she runs over to Ms. Patty's house when we come looking for her."

"Bella got out of the house, and learned how to fly Mommy! She's a super hero hamster now, that's why she can't come back. She's busy being a super hero!"

I have to admit, as cute as the stories have gotten, Aiden was still asking to get another hamster as soon as he realized Bella was gone. He wanted the brown short haired one, rather than the white long haired one Bella was... But it wasn't until a couple weeks ago, the acceptance was there without the tears that Bella wasn't coming back. The stories started to change a little.

Cody:
Bella's door got left open and she got out and the Dogs ATE her!
Aiden:
No Cody, Bella could have got away.
Cody:
Dogs ATE her!
Aiden:
They maybe didn't eat her.
Cody:
Dogs ATE her! Ump Ump! (Making eating chomping sounds.)
Aiden:
Well, maybe they ate her, but they just opened their mouth and swallowed.
Cody:
Dogs ATE her!
Aiden:
They ate her, but they didn't chew.

They boys thought they wanted to name the new hamster "Zoom" but while at the pet store, they insisted her name was Percy. Must not have looked like a Zoom once they met her.





So now, we quietly welcome Percy to our home. So far, she's much different in temperment. Not quite the spit fire Bella was... who bit me to prove her points. Percy freezes and will play statue for a few hours, and will roll over and play oppossom if you try to pick her up. (The guy in the store wasn't very good at hamster handling. After like three minutes of grasping at her, I thought how cleaver she rolled over and played dead! Like, just do it!!)

The dogs are of course interested in Percy too, but hopefully will not get the opportunity to get up close and personal. We are putting an alarm on the cage door!

The Weather

I remember when I was younger, people who talked about the weather, was something they did for polite conversation or filler with strangers that they didn't feel they had anything else in common with. I always imagined these conversations as, "Lovely day today." "Yes, it's getting colder." "I think it was winder this time last year."

Now that I am older however, I realize that the weather conversations I have are with the same group of strangers in which I have very little in common. However, my conversations about this topic are nothing short of enthusiastic and astonishing. I find myself waiting to pick up Cody from preschool, talking to people about my decision methods on how to dress the kids or my incorrect decision to leave my sweatshirt in the car. I also tell the story of my astonishment of how myself being a Cali Gal, will never get used to wearing short and t-shirts in 90 degree weather and still have to carry an umbrella.

The other part of this equation, is how excited the people on the other side of this conversation get. They vigerously nod their head and trade tales. "I hate winter here, it's a damp cold." whatever that means... "And the kids have to wear their big heavy coats and their lockers are not even big enough to hold their coats, so they leave them behind and just freeze at the bus stop." I have since learned that winter coats seem to cause the most clutter in the slow winter months in Cape May, NJ.

And when I step away from this converstation, I feel as though we have had a bond. We now share this common phenomenon of questionable dressing of ourselves and our children according to the laws of nature.

Sunny time, sunny times! So when we advise our children to keep their comments to the weather, as in sense and sensibility by my beloved Jane Austin... don't think of this as sending out children to sheild their feelings and restrain their feeling to idol chit chat. No, speak on the weather, delight in the glory of the shared experince that is given to us from mother nature and bond with your fellow earthlings.

Rewards

We go so tired of being the nay sayers. Constantly telling one or the other to stop this or don't do that. Going to a store has become insane with the "I Want" syndrome. We just were not getting though to them with the behavior we expected.

So starting this morning, we gave them 5 coupons. There was a shelf set up downstairs, with toys for each of the that they picked out the night before that they wanted. In order to get them open, they had to earn coupons and trade them in, like at Chuck E Cheese. They could also spend their coupons for TV time, or Computer Time. 1 coupon = 30 minutes or $1. So if a toy cost $5, it's 5 coupons.

They picked out these dogs, that were $20.

In the morning, Cody was in the lead even after spending a few coupons on computer games. He managed to sit in his seat all through breakfast, used please and thank you and tried a new food. Then we went the store, and there was no "I wants" as they didn't want to lose coupons.






They even put the toys down they were looking at in the toy isle and followed my voice and directions to a couple isles over without asking for toys, screaming, bickering... extremely well behaved in the store. Astonishing!! Cody took a nap WITHOUT MOM like a big boy and with no arguments. Then we went to dinner, where Cody wasn't hungry but he sat at the table, was pleasant and played quietly and was polite. Aiden hit the mother load on coupon earning, where he tried all the following new foods: Tempura sweet potato, tempura Shrimp, fried rice, Carrots, Habachi Chicken (which he loved), squash, mushroom, broccoli, salad, miso soup and for two coupons... Sushi.

Now here is where I need to warn, I was so excited Aiden was eating all these new foods, I completely went overboard on the trying sushi. First, I had forgotten he's eaten so much already. Then, I gave him not the california roll, but the roll with unagi inside and tuna on top. (For my non-sushi eating friends, unagi is cooked eel). It was the sushi with the temptation of two coupons, that made him try it, gag and throw up all over the table. I felt so bad. I will never force him to try sushi again.


He was such a trooper however, we went and got cleaned up. He said in the bathroom, "I don't want two coupons!" I had to laugh, and I did give him the two for trying it anyway.

Aiden saying "Two Coupons!"

Cody on computer time.

Aiden happy with his grand prize puppy.