Speaking of the love of a mom…

Well, I have now done something I never thought I would do. As many of you know, all our kids love animals. Lucas is an animal fanatic. He already says he wants to be a vet when he grows up and take care of baby animals. He’s always finding little insects and animals to keep so we have had a few frogs, snails, lizards, preying mantises, geckos, beetles, mice and snakes. Some we have kept for just a day and some for a little longer.

Last week our workers found some newborn field mice/rats(?) and Lucas came running in the house with one small rodent in his hands begging to (raise your voice an octave as you read the rest of this sentence) “keep him because he’s sooooo cute!” The critter was real cute, and he was so tiny that his eyes weren’t even open. But he still had a very rat-ish look about him, and I wasn't at all interested in the idea of keeping a RAT as a pet!

Well, 3 kids’ soulful pleadings later, and a chime in from Dad, “Honey, they do sell rats in pet stores”, I found myself wondering how we were going to keep this critter (now named Ratty) alive. I poured a little reconstituted powdered milk onto a tray, and though it seemed like he went for it once, he definitely wasn’t drinking it for subsequent feedings. I tried convincing everyone that this rat would be better off with his mom. The kids told me that he would never find his mom again because he couldn’t see. Then, I had an “a-ha” moment -- and here is where the “Mommy love” part comes in. I found a dropper and hand-fed Ratty some pumped milk we had on hand (let’s just say Weston isn’t weaned yet)!Ratty was so ecstatic he started squeaking. It really was adorable—I know most of you are thinking that I am really losing it now, but with 4 animal lovers looking to me to keep him alive I had no choice.

Lucas loved this tiny little rodent and would carry it around with him, tucking it in his shirt, holding it in his lap, and even reading books with it.

We were able to keep Ratty-renamed Mousie- and feed him for four days before he met his sad demise. Apparently, he was so young that he needed mommy's moo-juice more often than we were able to deliver. Tears were shed by both Austin and Lucas. While I’m very glad that the rat is gone, I would have done anything to prevent those heart-broken tears.

(Sigh) Until the next animal adventure!