A New Family Member

Confession: I am a little bit afraid of hamsters. Yeah, I know to them I am Godzilla and Kong Kong rolled into one, but their little pointy claws, tendency to bite, and particularly the fact that they appear to be tailless mice are all creepy to me. But today we have added one of them to our family.

I personally don't want to call a hamster a member of the family, but the kids are in love. The hamster was a gift to Megan from a very generous little friend of hers (though 3 kuai wasn't exactly breaking the bank). But she even bought her a cage! I didn't want to squelch her desire to give, so we have this hamster on a one month probation. If the kids don't take good care of her, she's out on the street. (Ok, I wouldn't seriously put a defenseless little rodent out on the street. I think my dad might though. In fact, I suspect that may be where some of my childhood rodents went, but I cannot confirm that).

The hamster's name is Nim. It was that or Mittens. Nim, from Nim's Island, which is a wonderful children's book Megan loves. She's only one month old so she's a little peep of a thing and seems genuinely petrified thus far, given that long car ride in the pink plastic ball, then being passed around five pairs of children's hands when we showed her to friends. She's currently curled up in a ball inside the mini-house in her cage, probably thinking, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home!" Well, home you are little friend. We'll see how it goes. And if I get over my fear of you.