week ending aug 17, 2008:

Week ending Aug 17, 2008: This week we delved deep into the underbelly of the guinea pig world. We went to two pet stores and the SPCA. We bought and read a book about raising guinea pigs, we started acquiring guinea pig accoutrement, and we did a great deal of research about guinea pig cages. Most notable was our visit to the SPCA which had several guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, and one rat available for adoption. The small animals had a room to themselves and after providing us directions to reach the room, no one seemed concerned about our extended presence in the room, so I took each of the animals out of the cages, one at a time, and let the kids pet them all. We didn’t have any allergy or asthma attacks, so I thought that was a good sign, since the animals shed all over us. The rabbits were so big that they didn’t really fit on either of the twin’s laps. The rat named Pippin was very friendly and curious and Chloe now wants me to do rat research to see if a rat would be an appropriate pet because she liked him as much or more than the guinea pigs. One of the guinea pigs we pet was a long haired silky variety and his name was Fabio. Fabio had the unfortunate coloring of my wet hair when I pull gobs of it (covered in soap scum) out of the shower drain, so I’m glad Chloe didn’t favor him because I would have a hard time getting past that mental imagery. My favorite was a girl pig named Smiley. Before we went to the SPCA Chloe insisted that she wanted a white female because she liked the looks of the white ones in the book, and Chloe has always had a gender bias toward girls. All her stuffed animals are girls (according to Chloe), as are her baby dolls, and she announced this week that she doesn’t like boys (referring to boy children, which I’m betting her father is hoping that she holds onto this view until at least college). Anyway, after meeting Smiley, Chloe decided that a tri-color would be good too. I told Chloe that we couldn’t take Smiley home yet since we didn’t have a cage ready and the pig is really supposed to be her birthday present, so I didn’t want her to be disappointed on her birthday. Now that I’ve met some pigs, I’m pretty excited about getting a guinea pigs, so I was secretly hoping she’d say her usual “that’s ok Mommy” (that she always says when she’s arguing with me) and inform me that if she got the pig now she wouldn’t be disappointed on her birthday!
With all this guinea pig fuss, Alex decided that he wants a pet. Now he and Chloe fight over who gets to feed the cat because Alex wants to prove himself pet-worthy. At the pet store Alex fell in love with the mice and decided that I was getting one for him. I told him that I didn’t want a mouse to get loose in our house because I didn’t think we’d be able to find it. We’ve read that guinea pigs like to have companions, so I figured that 2 guinea pigs wouldn’t be appreciably more trouble than 1. Alex insisted that he did not want a guinea pig, and suggested that a fish wouldn’t be able to get away. I conceded that a fish might be an acceptable pet, but we aren’t done with the debate yet.


Our pictures from a very nice visit to the Smithsonian on Friday (we didn't get any pictures with the dinosaur bones because the kids were too nervous to allow me to step far enough away from them to get a shot with all those big scary dinosaur skeletons around): http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/SmithsonianNaturalHistoryMuseum