She didn't get it from me, but Pinky is an absolute animal lover. Her favorite animal is probably a dog. Although recently she has decided it would be fun to have a pet giraffe. Poor girl is just about as likely to get a pet giraffe as a puppy.
So, yesterday, Pinky, Rosie and I were on an orchard adventure with my sister and her kids on an absolutely perfect fall afternoon. We were having a wonderful time climbing trees, admiring all of the fall leaves, swinging in a tree swing and riding in the wagon. We'd taken hundreds of pictures (not exaggerating) of our afternoon and we were headed to the cars when I hear my sweet little Pinky say,
"Hey Mom, wanna see my pet mouse?"
My instant fear was soon confirmed. My little one had found a dead mouse on our path, picked it up, and was petting it gently. I had all I could do to keep from SCREAMING in disgust. GROSS!!!! (I can still see it's little tail dangling from her sweet little hands.)
Fortunately, Auntie, who is much more of an animal lover than me, came to both of our rescue. She gently walked up to Pinky, asked her to put the mouse down, and started talking to her about why it wasn't a good idea to pick up dead animals and why she couldn't keep it.
(Meanwhile, I am rummaging through the diaper bag looking for wipes and hand sanitizer.)
Pinky responded with tears and lots of them.
"Why can't I keep it?"
"What if it's mommy misses him?"
"I want to take care of him."
"Please!"
Lots of wipes and hand sanitizer later, she was settled in the car, calmly eating a snack, but still talking about the mouse. She decided she didn't want a dead mouse for a pet, but could she
please have one that
moves.
"But you do have a pet, honey, you have Goldfish."
She looked at her snack of crackers, and for the moment was satisfied with the response.
Of course she woke up today still talking about the mouse. I wonder how much it costs to buy a giraffe?
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| Pinky and Lucy at the farm. |
