'Pets'. I have been trying not the mention the word since the day 50% of K's guppies were massacre by his over-enthusiastic, heavy-handed use of the net, when he 'helped' to clean the fish tank. Those fishes that Dh bought lasted less than 6 months and we woke up one morning to guppies floating motionlessly in the tank. I still cannot quite figure out what caused the tragedy; a possible contamination in the water, a careless helper who forgot to condition the water or the fishes could have died simply due to stress.
I was hoping that the fish episode will be over and his desire to own a pet will be forgotten, until he reaches an age when he can take care of the pet himself. However, in an effort to encourage him to stop using diapers for his 'big business', indulgent daddy promised him a hamster.
When the day the milestone was achieved, dh brought K out to the pet-store and rewarded him with not just one, but two dwarf hamsters. And the overall bill including the ancillaries of the cage and food came up to almost $300! Pets really don't come cheap these days.
Here's Ah-Go (a pearl-belly coloured dwarf hamster)
and Doh-Doh (a pudding coloured dwarf hamster)
K gave his hamsters rather strange names, after all, I can't expect a 3 year old to be giving them traditional pet names like Lucky or Cutie. The two hamsters are still rather terrified of K at this moment, Ah Go recently let out a loud squeak and pee-ed on dh's palm when K got over enthusiastic and squeezed him a little too hard. It is still alive and healthily scurrying around the cage.
Hamsters are not as exciting or responsive as dogs, but they are rather fun to watch. They are fairly easy to care for, in fact, K is so willing to help to put food for the hamsters daily and even helped to clean the cage a few days ago. I have been rather eager to introduce new types of vegetables to them, no wonder on the day the hamsters were brought home from the pet shop, dh said this, "Ah-Go is Kyle's and Doh-Doh is mummy's pet," and gave me this 'I am sure you wouldn't mind that' kind of grin.
Secretly, I think I want a dog but don't want the responsibility of caring for one. I just have to make sure that I don't visit the pet store too often (that we bought Ah-Go and Doh-Doh from) and still see that same Schnauzer who has lost its puppy appeal, longingly looking out of his cage with its tear-stained eyes, hoping for that someone to bring him home. I am still convinced that I don't quite fancy that breed of dogs, besides, it will be hard having 2 hamsters and a dog and expect them to live harmoniously under the same roof.
