well....

I think I can safely say I will not be getting the Mother of the Year Award anytime soon.

The guinea pig died today.

Poor thing.

I am just praying that I did not have anything to do with it.
Coincidently, he died while he was outside getting some fresh air. A nice breezy sunny day. I can not see any reason why it would hurt him, but stranger things have happened. His water was still there, his food was eaten....but alas, he was not alive when I went back out to get him. Funny - I was going out to get him to give him a nice bath, toe nail trim and hair cut.

*sigh Kaite is, of course, devastated. Chris kind of took it all in stride, but has been quiet. He wanted to know more of the how's, Kaite wanted to know more of the why's. She is a bit upset with me because we won't take it to the vet to find out why it died. Sorry - no guinea pig autopsy here.

Here is where I lose my Mother of the Year Award.Don't get me wrong, I am consoling my children and my heart breaks for them. They are sad, understandably so. But as I console them, I have to bite my tongue to keep from reminding them that no one has paid the poor thing one minute of attention in nearly a year. Yup - no Mother of the Year here. But thankfully, I do not say it allowed. I was tempted to test my "it would take them weeks to realize he is gone theory" - but stopped myself. See - I am not all bad.

I, on the other hand, will miss the little bugger. No more squeaking when I open the refrigerator and dig in the lettuce drawer. Zoey I think will have a tough time too. She has been back and forth between his empty cage and the back yard a million times in the last half hour...she saw him in the box, and now I don't think she realizes where he is. No more licking his ears while I change his cage.

So tonight, we had the graveside service at the Fishlock Memorial Pet Cemetary by the garden in the back yard, where he will join the miriad of fish and hamsters buried there. There will be ice cream at Longacre's after the service. That should get my Mother of the Year status back - and I do get credit for not thinking out loud.

RIP Doodle - I will miss you.