Hannah's Signature

Hannah enjoys writing her name and exploring new and unique signatures. Watching her write her name over and over last night, I was reminded of the very first time she actually "signed" something.

We had two hamsters, Chimpy and Reepicheep. Chimpy belonged to Hannah, Reepicheep to Rachael. When we were ready for baby hamsters, we put them in the same cage and watched the science lesson unfold before us.

A couple weeks later, I picked the girls up at school and we rushed home to discreetly watch the delivery. Again, very fascinating and beautiful. The girls were wowed.

We watched as eight little hamster babies grew and became independent. Hannah tried to sell them to her friends and relatives to now avail. Finally it was time to part with them as I was afraid they were getting old enough to start reproducing. With love, gentleness, and quite a lot of sadness, the girls put the babies in an ice cream bucket.

We went to the pet store, and since Hannah was the rightful owner, I stood quietly beside her as she tried to sell the manager her hamsters. (I had phoned ahead and knew it was most likely they'd take them as I'd been told they'd take our baby hamsters if they looked healthy. They were healthy, so I assumed it would all go well.)

Hannah was six years old. She stood with her shoulders back looking so thoughtful and confident as she spoke to the lady. "Would you like to have my hamsters?," she asked as they looked at the energetic rodents in her ice cream pail.

The manager responded with, "How much do you want for them?" She addressed me, but I quickly redirected the question to Hannah. Truthfully, I didn't expect money, I just needed to get rid of the cute babies before we single-handedly multiplied the rodent population exponentially.

Hannah looked up and asked her with no guidance from me, "Would $2 be too much?" This was becoming way more of an education than I had envisioned. I was milking it for all it was worth. When the manager asked me a question, I'd say, "Their not my hamsters, their her's." (Yes I know the manager probably had bigger and better things to do, but I was molding a young heart and I viewed that with awesome seriousness and beauty.)

It was agreed upon. $2!

When the manager went to the till to get the money, Hannah looked at me with those big blue eyes and shrugged her shoulder as if to say, "Can you believe it?"

The manager returned with not $2, rather $16. $2 per hamster! Hannah looked at me with eyes like saucers, but remained cool as if she were expecting $16 all along. After the lady counted out the money into Hannah's chubby little hand, she turned to me and asked me to sign the receipt. Again, I redirected the transaction to Hannah. The lady, perhaps annoyed with me, handed Hannah the pen. Hannah was puzzled so I coached her, "She wants you to sign your name. Write you name right here." With grave seriousness, Hannah gripped the pen firmly. She sucked in her bottom lip and bit it as if the harder she bit, the better her printing would be. With deliberate precision she wrote across the bottom of the receipt, H A N N A H

The lady asked if we wanted our ice cream pail back and Hannah told her no. We started to leave and Hannah said, "Mom can you believe I got $2 for each of them? I thought I was getting $2 for all of them."

She gasped and ran back to the manager, clearly remembering something. I arrived just in time to hear her say, "I forgot. Do you want to know their names?"

It's a precious memory.

Pictures

Deborah and her Interest Fair Project
Harry the Hamster.











Rachael and her project, Ancient Kings.














I went to bed much later than the girls last night. I tucked them all into their own beds, but when I went to bed, this is what I found. Yesterday some dingbat at school told them about demons and how they sometimes attack you and choke you to death while you sleep. I guess Mom and Dad's bed felt much safer and secure.

New Pets

Deborah got a hamster for Christmas. She named him Harry. When Gordon took the girls to the pet store to pick up supplies for Harry, they came home with a surprise for me; 2 new mice. I was less than enthusiastic. I love animals, but mice? The girls begged and pleaded and I reluctantly agreed to the new house mates. Two hours after they arrived, the house stank. I went to Hannah's room and the stench about knocked me over. "This is not a good sign," I said. Hannah sheepishly agreed.

By evening time I could smell them in my bedroom. I shouted, "I can smell those rats from here and they've gotta go." No one argued. The smell was pretty convincing.

The next morning Gordon took the girls and their mice back to Petsmart. He told the clerks that the mice stank and they matter of factly said, "Oh yeah, mice stink, especially males." (Ours of course were males). Did you know mice stink?

An hour later my family arrived home with 2 new hamsters. Dusty and Smudge bring our rodent population up to a bustling 3. I'm fine with hamsters, I even like them. We've had several and they've all been loved.

World, meet Dusty, Harry, and Smudge.

Lucky

On the nights when Gordon works, sometimes I let one of the girls sleep with me. Last night was Rachael's night. We were lying there reading; I was reading Gifts from the Sea, she was reading The Book of Virtues. Lacy was between us and Lucy was at our feet. (That menagerie only happens when good ole Dad's not around).

As I read I came across something that made me want to jot in the margin of my book. Because I had heard Rachael writing something a bit earlier, I asked if she had a pencil. What she had was a marker. She offered to get me a pencil, "I have lots," she said. I asked her where and she said they were under her mattress. I asked why she had pencils under her mattress and she said, "so I'll always know where they are."

Rachael is a hoarder. She has hoarded many a treasure in her 9 years. Have you ever heard it said that if you play the piano when you're pregnant, your baby will be a pianist? Well I've often smiled and said since I had a hamster (hoarder) when I was pregnant with her, she's a hoarder.

When Christopher was 3 or 4 he found a 3 legged turtle. He named him Lucky because "he's lucky to have me." He loved his little turtle. Once we came home and Lucky was gone. Christopher cried and cried saying someone stole Lucky. I told him that perhaps Lucky crawled away. "Lucky would never leave me, he loved me," Christopher wailed. It was a sad day.

2 years later when Christopher and Stephanie went back to Arkansas after spending the summer with us, I was very depressed. Gordon went and bought me a cute little tan Teddy Bear hamster. I named her Lucky because she was "lucky to have me." (Lucky had indeed been lucky in the recent past because 9 days after we got her she gave us 11 more little hamsters.)

We had Lucky until she died peacefully in her sleep 3 years later. Gordon buried her in the flower bed in front of our townhouse.

Meanwhile Rachael was born. As soon as she was mobile, it became obvious that she was a hoarder. Gordon and I made jokes about her being our little hamster child.

When she was about 18 months old, things began to disappear. They were always Gordon's things. I probably rolled my eyes and thought "you'd lose your head if it weren't attached." One day I was in the kitchen and out of the corner of my eye I saw chunky little Rachael lift the floor vent and put something in it. I knelt down, pulled the vent up and ran my arm down into the elbow of the heat duct. I found a cache of treasures: Gordon's watch, 2 sets of Gordon's keys, Gordon's toothbrush, half a moldy hot dog, a sippy cup, coloring book, and various little Fisher Price animals.

To this day Rachael collects and hoards things. Last night I learned of a pencil stash. 2 summers ago I found a number of beetles in her underwear drawer.

Unfortunately I didn't play the piano when I was pregnant with her. But I did love my hamster Lucky and Rachael is living proof.