A week packed full of snow, with journeys taking much longer than usual, and not much time for anything else. A week where I am slightly jealous of things grinding to a halt in other countries, when there’s not much chance of that happening here!
A week of getting used to a new addition too, something I am blaming entirely on my Sister and Brother in Law, as they were the ones who gave a rather lifelike ceramic (guinea) piggy bank to The Five Year Old for Christmas. So attached was he to this “ginky-bank” that he took to carrying it around at every given opportunity. As soon as he woke up in the morning, he would come downstairs with “Ginky” tucked dangerously under one arm. At meal times Ginky was plonked on the table, and “force-fed” lettuce leaves donated conveniently from his own plate, and at bed times his owner secreted him around the house in places he thought Ginky might be warm and comfortable, but could at times have signalled his demise. How poor old Ginky hasn’t ended up smashed to smithereens, is beyond me. And all the while, this fawning over Ginky had me feeling terribly guilty. Guilty that this Expat life doesn’t always make allowances for things such as pets, something we always always had as children.
The Five Year Old’s main request to Father Christmas was actually for a turtle which led to much (secret) research on behalf of his parents. As turtles live for such a long time, I had asked Mr R. whether he thought we could transport it somewhere else if and when we move on, and thinking aloud more than anything else, I asked him whether he thought there was such a thing as a turtle passport. He said he didn’t think so as all their passport pictures would look the same… And then I found out how truly hard they can be to look after, and that idea went out of the window.
As I watched my son take such good care of this ceramic creature (under no pretence that it will probably be me doing all the hard work with a real animal), I still pondered whether we should get a real one, as surely learning how to care for something responsibly is good in a life lesson kind of way? Anyway, if it was all part of a master plan on his part to guilt his parents into letting him have a pet, he did a pretty good job. When I watched him spend a couple of hours fashioning Ginky a house out of a rice-cooker box, his work was done. He had succeeded in pushing his mother over that pet-buying cliff.
And so let me introduce you to King Max, our tiny baby hamster. Coincidentally he is very similar in colour to Ginky, but he’s a lot more lively! His house is a positive palace compared to that of my own hamster of the eighties, and he dines on a vast selection of food (I only remember mine being given sunflower seeds circa 1985!) his current favourite being banana chips. He adores his wheel and the odd change of scenery when his palace is being cleaned by the maid (I just knew that was going to happen). And Ginky? He now lives a much less precarious but satisfactory life on a book shelf in the Five Year Old’s room, where he might be fed with a coin or two from time to time, and with the odd sojourn to his summer (rice cooker) house to look forward to…
Well, at least that’s the first Expat Parenting Dilema of 2013 out of the way anyway!
This story is just too cute, your boy sounds adorable! I love how he carefully carried ‘ginky’ around everywhere with such precision. And now you’ve got him a hamster, does he love it? We have one too and ours is cute but he does invariably get neglected for days on end :( My daughter is a real animal lover though and like you, I just couldn’t deprive her! Thanks for linking up to #oldiesbutgoodies
Thanks Suzanne, he does love it, unless he accidentally puts his finger through the cage and gets bitten by it!! :D
Awwww – what a truly sweet story! Congratulations on your new addition to your family!
Thank you Marianne! :)
‘Ginky-bank’, cute!
I love your first paragraph where you say you’re ‘slightly jealous of things grinding to a halt elsewhere’. So I’m not the only one! I love the excuse the rare snow days gives me for Doing Nothing outside of the immediate home ;)
Thank you! If only they would happen here Michelle! I actually suggested to the school Director yesterday that he might look up the term “snow day”. His reply – “what’s that?”… Says it all! :D
Oh boy does that bring back memories. The hamster I brought home for the kids was pregnant – who knew?! I got a bargain that day, but was unprepared for such a large pet family!
Oh my goodness, that must have been interesting! I have it on the utmost authority that Max is definitely “Mannlich” – he had better be!! :D
Too cute! I’m quite looking forward to when EDtot can help me guilt EDdad into getting a pet. (Feel free to remind me of this post when I inevitably rant about looking after said pet!)
I think you should just say that ED bought it herself, how can he say no to such a cute baby girl?? :D xxx
I had a hamster as a child, wore my mother down, saved up. It lasted about 2 years. They are super cute.
I do love Ginky very much – he is a very fine piggy bank.
Thanks Gemma… I am glad that Ginky’s life expectancy has improved greatly! :D
So cute! My kids had a dwarf hamster when we were living in Japan. After “Smoothie” died (after a long and full life, I might add), we told the kids we would get them a dog when (if) we moved to Europe. So, we’ve now had our tiny, travel-friendly Yorkie for three years. We take “their” dog (ha!) with us when we travel home to the U.S. each summer.
Sweet! What a great name for a Hamster too! I like the idea of a compact dog, got to be easier in all aspects of caring for it! :)
Think a hamster is a great choice of pet for your lifestyle. It would be a shame for children to grow up without animals around.
Thanks Erica, small and portable seems sensible to me! We have even found a little animal hotel up the road for when we are away! :D
Oh King Max you are so cute!
I went through a couple of hamsters when I was small (not entirely without thanks to one of the cats) and I absolutely ruddy adored them. My mum used to train them to pee in jam jars… I have absolutely no idea where she got the idea from but it made cleaning out the cage out a considerably more pleasant experience!
Hello you, hope you are well? Thank you. Did the training involve sand? I have been reading up on this and apparently it can be done (and you have just proved that!) :D
Hello yes thank you! Hope you are too :) I have a feeling the jam jar training involved putting any, um, newly-wet sawdust in there until the hamster got the idea. I’ll ask my mum for you!
Yes thanks! :) Can’t wait to hear it from the expert, this could make life much easier! :D
I am truly terrified of reaching the ‘pet request’ stage. The thought of having to look after an animal fills me with dread. Urrgghh! Best of luck with HRH Max.
Thank you! In my slightly limited (this time around), a hamster is a good easy option should you need to choose it in the future. I once had sea-monkeys as pets, I thought they would be easy enough, until my brother in law mistook them for a snowglobe!! :D
Husband and I never had pets as children so there isn’t that urge to have one now. Certainly Rory has never asked for a pet, so we have never had to face this dilemma. We have had goldfish and the last surviving one is now 11 years old.
I do think King Max is very sweet, though I prefer my animals stuffed and with fake fur which I can put in the washing machine!!
11 years? That’s pretty impressive! :) Thank you, he is sweet. At the moment! :D
I started reading and then had to scroll down to see if a picture of a real pet appeared. That is how excited I was for your five year old. We have 2 Ginkys, real ones and we all adore them. I do think they introduce valuable lessons to kids however Mr H and I do a lot of the cleaning out, as my mother did for me when I was little. King Max looks great hope he’s settling in. x
I think it’s actually parental law that we have to clean the pets out. We know that now don’t we! :D Thank you, he is! :) xx
Aww so cute, Love the name King Max, hamsters are such lovely pets xx
Thanks Wendy! Goodness knows what his children will end up being called one day! :D xx
King Max looks incredibly sweet! I bet your son is beaming with happiness… xx
Oh he is, and his big sister is too! :D Thank you xx
Oh he is gorgeous. In our expat community there are so many families with dogs, but we choose to be pet free also as we thought it was easier when moving so much.
ginky is gorgeous and I suspect he will “live” much longer now that King Max is on the scene :)
A dog is a huge commitment when you move around so much… I know people here who have possibly spent more on transporting their dog back than on plane tickets for themselves! :) Thanks Sharon, I think you might be right! :)
Oh, we too have the pet dilemma, will we move? Will we stay? Will it be cruel to get a pet when we’re unsettled? Who knows but I love King Max and he is just the image of Ginky!
Thank you… I hope you are able to make your decision on all of the above soon enough! :)
How cute he looks but remember – they can find ways to escape and love to live under the floorboards (at least yours did)!! xx
I do believe that was your youngest child’s hamster, not mine! :) xxx
Lovely post. We just got a hamster too, her name is cocoa. After losing our dog last year, our 12 yr old has been really unhappy and the arrival of cocoa has put such a smile back on her face. Enjoy your new pet, he is very cute x
Thank you Mama S. And I hope you enjoy your new pet too, Cocoa is a fab name! :) xx
King Max is just adorable – and Ginky’s pretty lovely too! I’ve come under a bit of pressure to get a hamster, but have resisted so far – think the cat would be delirious with excitement if we did! x
Yes, I imagine the cat would find a hamster just the best entertainment! Have to say I haven’t regretted the decision so far, although that could of course change at some point! :D
Max is cute. At least I did not get the blame for being the bearer of Ginky across the channel! Love his house!
Watch out sweaters, hamsters have a wool fetish!
xxxxxx for R & S
I will keep all jumpers away from the bars of the cage! Hope you’re resting up! :) xx
i love the Penny box and how lovely to have a new addition to your home Ginky and King max i think your 5 year old has a brillant imagination
Thanks Helen, hope all is well with you :) x
omgoodness, i am in love!
king max is adorable and SO like ginky it’s uncanny.
pets are such a dilemma.
i’m not sure i could cope with the little squirmy, wriggly type – furry or scaly
and cats are a no go
which leaves the canine friend and i am desperate for a dog
(but d states he is allergic!)
i’d love a little friend – for me and n and e
and can just imagine n doing dog agility with it by her side.
perhaps in time…
but for the moment;
hello, king max!
Thank you my lovely! A dog would be so nice wouldn’t it? We have two severely allergics in our house, but a friend has just got a Portugese Water Dog (as owned by Barack Obama!), and apparently they are great for those that usually have a reaction to pet fur… ;) xx