a tale of three critters

In the last three weeks, we've had just as many pets come and go in the Flibbertigibberish household.

1.  Dole the Centipede

• The girls found Dole in the backyard and put him in a jar.
• They taught Brody how to say "Dole" and they all convinced themselves he was their new brother.
• They faught over who would sleep with Dole that night.  Emma won.
• They kissed and hugged the jar good night.
• Dole died sometime in the night.
• Brody trudged up to me the next morning and said, "Dole Dead."
• We threw Dole away and moved on with our lives.

2.  Elizabeth the Caterpillar

• We found Elizabeth in one of our puzzles.
• The kids had been doing the puzzle outside earlier in the day.  I suppose she was a stowaway when we packed it up - I guess she was destined to be part of our lives.
• The girls put her in a jar, along with a small aspen twig from our yard and a drop of water.

• Each day, the girls would clean out the jar (caterpillars poop!) and put fresh aspen leaves in there for her to eat.  She would leave bite marks in them - kind of fun to see!

• The girls took really good care of Elizabeth, and even took her to Grandma's house to spend the night.  Grandma was thrilled.
• They liked to play with Elizabeth.

• Is it weird to think Elizabeth really loved us back?
• They were letting her race a roly poly bug on the backyard table when they turned their back for just a few seconds.
• When they turned back around, Elizabeth was gone. Gone!
• I helped them look for Elizabeth, but she was nowhere to be found.
• I choked back tears.
• Had I really gotten attached to a CATERPILLAR?
• Yes.  Yes, I had.
• The girls were sad, but no tears were shed.

3.  Molly the Vole

• The girls found a mole rat mouse vole in the window well.
• They rescued it and put it in a tupperware container.
• They bathed it with the garden hose.
• They fed it cheese.
• I came home and almost puked when they showed me.
• They said it was cute and cuddly.
• I refused to believe it.
• They did not fight about who would sleep with Molly the Vole, because Molly the Vole was NOT allowed into the house, because YUCK.
• The next morning, Molly the Vole was very dead and very stiff.  Legs up in the air and everything.  I bet it's tongue was hanging out too and maybe it's eyes had turned into x's, but I didn't get close enough to check.
• Addie declared she'd been a good pet for a day and went on her merry way.
• No tears.
• Except my tears of joy.
• I don't do rodents.

I wonder what our next pet will be?  I can handle bugs, I can handle frogs, but I don't want it to be anything featured on the Orkin website.  LIKE A VOLE.  Stay tuned, because I have a feeling this is just the beginning...