All The Creatures Were Stirring…

Written by Rowonna McNeely – Since last week, we have had a couple of additions to our family. We are now the proud owners of two male hamsters. Eh… proud might be an overstatement… Kiera’s proud. Let me explain how this happened.

Last week, Aaron’s sister, Amy, called and explained to Aaron how she was planning on buying several hamsters from another individual. She wondered if we would want Kiera to have one or two. Aaron and I discussed for a few moments if we wanted them and decided that we would pass for now.

Two hours later, Amy calls to let us know that she has purchased the hamsters and wants to make absolutely sure that we don’t want one. I’m not sure what happened. I know that Aaron and I discussed the hamster ownership option again and somehow we said yes.

Aaron made a quick trip to a pet store and we began the drive over to his sister’s house. As Aaron drove, I turned slightly in my seat to record Kiera’s reaction as we told her about the hamsters. “Honey, do you know what we are doing?” I asked.

Kiera shook her head no in response.

“Well, we are going to Aunt Mimmi’s  (Amy’s) house. Would you like to have two pet hamsters?” I steadied the phone as I asked her.

Her legs started to shake in excitement and she nodded her head yes enthusiastically while her mouth curved up in a smile.  There was a moment of silence as she processed and then she said with a nervous laugh, “Actually… I don’t know.”

Before we had made the turn into Aunt Mimmi’s drive, she had once again made up her mind that she did indeed want to get two hamsters.

The next hour was spent assembling a cage. Kiera and her cousin, Michael wandered back and forth, constantly checking on our progress. Finally, the cage was finished and it was time for Kiera to make her selection out of the five male hamsters.

Michael had already settled on a couple of names for two of the hamsters. A pale gray hamster was named Ghost and a brown one named, Brownie. Kiera watched the hamsters for a few minutes before making her selection.  Michael carried them to her new cage and we watched them get acquainted with their new living space.

“What do you want to name them?” Aaron asked Kiera.

“How about Spot? Or Patches?” Michael asked.

Kiera stared into the cage, watching the two before she responded in the negative.  Aaron began tossing out names. Each time, Kiera turned them down. Finally deciding that we were not getting any closer to picking names, we loaded up and headed to the house.

“Can you look up names on your phone, Mommy?” Kiera inquired as she buckled in her seat.

“Sure, baby.” I opened my phone and quickly searched baby boy names and began rattling off name after name.

“Wait! I know!!” She excitedly exclaimed. “How about Sebastian and Jackson?”

Aaron and I glanced at each other as we thought about all the previous simple pet names that we had given her, only for her to settle on Sebastian and Jackson.

“Those sound perfect.” I replied with a grin.

The next morning, Kiera woke up and sat in front of Sebi and Jackson’s cage watching them intently. As Aaron and I began to get ready for work, she would run back and forth with updates on her new hamsters.

“Mom!!” She exclaimed. “It’s like I’m the boss of them! Sebi was on his wheel and I told him to go the other way and he did!”

That’s when I knew that my little OCD child would try to organize her little hamsters’ lives. God bless them.

As I walked in her room to help her finish getting dressed for school, I heard her quietly explain to one of the hamsters, “You have to share or I will put you in time out.” Can I call it or what?

Kiera sat on the bed and I slid her boots on. “I have an idea.” She stated as I fastened the loops on her boot. “Sebi and Jackson have both figured out the wheel, but they both try to use it at the same time and they try to go different directions.”

I hid a smile as I began to imagine what her solution would be. She continued on, “Maybe we could get a timer. Sebastian could get four minutes and Jackson can get five minutes since Jackson is the slower one. We can set the timer and take them out when their time is up.”

“That’s an idea.” I replied as we hustled out the door for school. “That’s definitely an idea.”

Thankfully, there are plenty of other things going on to help distract my little OCD hamster mama. Like, how does Santa get in our house when we don’t have a chimney?

From our family to yours, we want to wish you a very, Merry Christmas! Try and stay on Santa’s nice list!