The girls walked to school every single day this year. Every day! They didn’t miss a day and they didn’t ask me to drive them once no matter what the weather. It ended up being a fun challenge, and we were all pretty proud. About halfway through the school year we kind of jokingly said that they might do it. With a couple of months to go it became serious. And with only a couple of weeks to go, we all KNEW they were going to make it come hell or high water. And they did.
Their chosen reward fluctuated -- sometimes scaring me (“unusual pet”?!), and sometimes making me breathe a sigh of relief (“a Build-A-Bear stuffed friend”), and then they settled on goldfish. Alrighty then, that was totally doable. So the day that school ended, we headed on down to the local pet store to check out the cute fishies.
But we came home with this little guy instead:
Meet PanPan, a friendly, laid-back Syrian hamster who looks sort of like a mini panda bear (hence the name). The girls are thrilled, and PanPan is pretty dang happy too. Well at least we think he is.
PanPan likes one small carrot a day:
He’s comically speedy running around in the closed hallway and up and over the girls’ legs:
He’s pretty fond of his wheel and tube:
And he’s a night owl, like every other member of the family. Welcome PanPan!
Posts
And, he's cute!
ReplyDeleteSo cute!
ReplyDeleteHow fun! Looking forward to meeting your furry friend.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, PanPan!
ReplyDeleteHe's adorable! I had 2 Hamsters as a child: Tico & Taco. Good times, good times.
ReplyDeletecool!
ReplyDeleteAwww, what a cutie. From a longtime school walker to another, walking every.single.day is QUITE an accomplishment! We have days where we run late or the girls don't feel like walking. Oddly enough, they always WANT to walk on rainy (or icy) days. heh
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to envision that your house is several miles from the school and that walking to school was a really big deal. Long before schools had buses most of us in a certain generation always walked to school and were expected to. How far the is the school from your house?
ReplyDeleteLots a luck with that "night owl"....they truly are!!!
ReplyDeleteNever sneeze on PanPan, keep him reasonably warm & under NO circumstances should he be given a bath. NO BATHS. According to Lauren B., daughter owner of hamster #3.
ReplyDeleteMaya wants a fuzzy friend as well. My biggest fear in getting a hamster is that they will run away from us and we won't be able to find it. Not that our house is big, mind you, but we have lots of closets to hide in! I'm guessing you have to be very careful when you get him out of the cage to make sure that all the escape routes are blocked? And seriously...does he eat just one baby carrot a day? Nothing else? I'm reconsidering as we speak...
ReplyDeleteHey Michelle! Hope you guys are having a great summer.
DeleteHe is speedy -- definitely not a "sit on the couch and watch tv with you" type of pet. But the girls really like him. When they want to play with him they close all the hallway doors and then can do whatever they want and he can't run away. They've also rigged up some cardboard box mazes that are funny.
The daily carrot is his treat, but he doesn't eat a ton more than that - 1/4 cup of hamster pellets and a TB of hamster seed mix every day or two and he's happy. He's pretty low maintenance... We dump out the cage bedding once a week and give him clean stuff, and we give him new water in his bottle every few days. Oh, and he gets to roam around in his ball every night for a half hour at a time (I set the alarm so we don't forget about him and go to bed).
Thanks for the additional info. In this old house of ours, none of our doors actually go all the way to the floor! We'd have to find a way to keep the little guy/girl contained. My brother's kids have rats. I know...ewwwww! BUT...my sister in law swears that they are the best rodent because they are very social and WANT to be with the humans so they tend not to try and escape. They are pretty cute but not having a space other than our living/dining room to house our rodent of choice, I'm afraid I might scare far too many people if we were to get a rat! :-)
DeletePan-Pan is perfect! What a cute little guy. Much better than a gold fish or two. I know lots of people with these little critters - one of my girlfriends says she leaves her Sophie on the counter top in her cage each day when she goes to work. She says when she comes in in the evening, Sophie starts running around and 'talking' a mile a minute. then she lets her out for a snuggle and a carrot. So doggone cute. (or should that be 'hampstergone' cute?)
ReplyDeleteI got my first hamster whe. I was 8, Speedy, and it was so exciting. So happy for you guys! :)
ReplyDeleteCute and lots of fun to watch in the wheel! :)
ReplyDeleteVery cute! My daughter is lobbying heavily for us to get a Hamster, I better not let her see this post! :)
ReplyDeletePan Pan is adorable! How in the world did you get away with buying just one?! :)
ReplyDeleteAh that was the beauty of it, there's some kind of hamster law (for the Syrian hamsters) that you can't put two of them together or they try to off each other. I think if you get dwarf hamsters you can pair them up but they're not as nice to humans.
DeleteI {heart} PanPan : ) But I'm not showing this to Linhsey! lol
ReplyDeleteI love it!
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful hamster law M3!
ReplyDeleteHow cute!!
ReplyDeleteLove Pan Pan's name! My daughter's nickname in the orphanage was Pan Pan, so it holds a special place in my heart.
ReplyDelete