I'm not a perfect mom but I try really hard to be a great mom and I feel like I deserve a damn reward for the night I woke up and caught my son's hamster.
Bo has always wanted a hamster and Todd never wanted one. One night, after a lot of strategic talk, Bo convinced Todd that if he cleaned his playroom and bedroom every night for 1 whole week, Todd would buy him a hamster. Bo was super excited and extremely giddy. He worked his little butt of that entire week and the only time he complained was when Dax walked around the house with a diaper box on his head instead of helping. Sure enough, Bo completed his end of the deal and it was Todd's turn to own up to his agreement.
I drove the kids up to PetSmart and purchased two hamsters. Bo picked out a white one and Dax picked out a brown one. Dax named his "Seabird" (I have no idea. Haha, I didn't ask) and Bo named his "Cheeks". Bo watches this cartoon on regular TV and it's always teaching the viewers on animals and ironically Bo learned all about Hamster's cheek pouches. So, last week's episode inspired Cheek's name. I thought they were super cute at first. I always wanted one growing up but MY MOM and I unfortunately failed to convince my father to let me have one. Mom was always great at just buying dogs and cats or convincing Dad to let us have one. We never got lucky with hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, etc. So I was VERY clueless on how to take care of one of these things and was convinced that this would be an interesting experience for us all. I immediately got grossed and creeped out when the gal helping us put the hamsters in the small white cardboard box. I could hear them crawling around, biting and scratching the sides of the box. I grew up in the country as a kid and living with field mice was just a thing. I still live in the country as an adult and have had A LOT of experience with mice and I literally HATED the noises these little creatures made because it sounded identical to field mice.
The boys were so excited that they could barely contain their excitement. They were fighting over who should hold the white box and who should be the first one to take "one more look" before heading home. We had to take a bunch of pictures and call Todd to tell him all about it. We got home and set the cages up, filled the water, food dish and placed the bedding. They gave us these small wooden objects because apparently they kind of need these chew toys or they start nawing on their cages or on each other. I was also told by the worker at PetSmart that the type of hamsters that we purchased can only be caged together for a few weeks before they will literally kill each other because they are so territorial. LIKE WTF. Needless to say, we had to eventually separate them because how absolutely terrible would that have been for my boys to wake up to?
The boys were obsessed. They loved watching them snuggle and adventure through their new homes. Bo would sit by the cage and anticipate when Cheeks would find his very thought out tunnel patterns. He was constantly checking the waters and food dishes to make sure his hamster was comfortable. He was always opening the side door to pet Cheeks and rearranging his wheel, hut and food bowl. It was very apparent that if ANYTHING happened to this hamster, Bo would be devastated.
One day, Bo was petting his hamster like always, and after a few hours home, he ran out of his room frantically screaming and crying that his hamster was gone. The side door was closed and I was literally searching the tunnels convinced Bo just couldn't see him. While looking through the tunnels, I noticed one of the tunnel pieces came loose and was cracked open. Cheeks was gone. Saying that Bo was upset is such an understatement. He grabbed his favorite blanket and laid in his bed with it over his head and balled for two hours. It took so long to get him to play again. He cried before bed when he was quickly reminded by Dax's active hamster on their night stand. I felt so bad for Bo. Dax loved his hamster but really gave zero shits about it. Bo did all of the cleaning and hard work for his hamster. He watched him all of the time and was obsessed with making sure his cage was perfect and now his was gone. We looked all over the place but as you know, a hamster loose in a house is pretty much a lost cause. I tried everything to make him feel better and nothing worked.
We were on day 2 of Cheeks missing. Bo was still super upset. He was waking me up in the morning, crying, saying he missed Cheeks. Bedtime was miserable. He had the hardest time going to sleep and It was to the point where I felt super bad for getting mad at him for not going to bed. We went to bed that night and Todd informed me the next morning that he thought he heard Cheeks in the walls last night. I was desperate so I grabbed the hamster's cage, filled the food and placed it in our closet where Todd said he was sure it was at. I left the door open praying this damn hamster would go in and stay in. I woke up the next morning to Bo crying again and an empty hamster cage. Day friggen 3. This hamster had to be either stuck somewhere or about to die.
Night 3 of Cheeks missing. At 3 AM, I woke up to my empty water bottles on the floor next to the dresser rolling around. I immediately sat up super fast and instantly thought, "god damn mouse again"! I grabbed my phone and turned on the flash light. I shined it over to the corner and sure shit, there crawling around next to my water bottles WAS CHEEKS. I smacked Todd, waking him, saying "Babe, I see Bo's hamseter!!" Todd was so tired. He basically didn't move but told me that Bo would be so happy if I caught him. I was so creeped out because I didn't want to touch this damn hamster. I immediately looked around and couldn't find a single thing to catch this damn hamster with. Just then, the hamster crawled under our dresser and I heard Kaylee crying through the baby monitor. I ran into Kaylee's room, grabbed her bottle, filled it up and hurried back into my bedroom. I thought for sure this hamster and my chance was gone. I couldn't see or hear him anywhere. I crawled on my bedroom floor looking under the bed and my dresser. I was moving clothes around and literally out loud whispering, "where are you cheeks"? This is so comical looking back now. I grabbed a purple container that I used to hold my lotions in and laid it on the floor on it's side. I grabbed his food bowl and placed it in the container. I figured the thing would be hungry, I mean it would be worth a shot. I turned my light off and waited. 20 seconds later, I heard little nawing on the food! I turned my flash light on and sat up slowly. Cheeks was right next to the container stuffing food into his cheek pouches. I was in panic mode. I didn't know what the hell to do but damn it, I needed that hamster. It is so funny to look back now because I was so determined to catch that damn thing, I was laser focused. I'm sure a lot of Mom's can relate when mama bear ain't playin' and she's about to do anything to make her baby happy again, she means business. I slowly grabbed the container and scooped the hamster up!!! I ran over to his cage and BOOM, mom of the year, right hurrrrrrrrrrr. I literally jumped up and down and did this weird air hump dance at 3:30AM because I caught this damn hamster. I jumped into bed and said, "GUESS WHO CAUGHT BO'S HAMSTER!?" Todd was basically a zombie. He mumbled, "no way, good job, such a good mom," and almost instantly started snoring.
I went upstairs and put Cheeks right next to Bo's bed on his nightstand. I thought it would be a fun way to surprise him in the morning. I could barely go to sleep. I was so excited to wake up to a happy Bo!! GUYS. You will NOT believe what I woke up to the next morning. I woke up to a happy and smiley little boy! I heard, "MOM! Guess what!?" I was so excited for him to tell me how pumped he was that Cheeks was back. "What's up buddy?"
"DAD CAUGHT MY HAMSTER!"
You're kidding, right?
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