Gerbils and a baby seat

Hello, it's been a long time since I've contributed to the blog. Here's my excuse: first, Amelia and Mike were gone for a week. Then I had to leave for the weekend to complete my usual Navy weekend training. But now we're all home together for a few days, so let the fun commence...

Last night Mike and I took Amelia to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. It was kids' night, so we thought we'd buy her a $0.99 macaroni and cheese dinner - just to see how she liked it. She really enjoyed the macaroni and cheese and the green beans that came on the side. She also had a lot of fun thumping her metal spoon against the inside of her ceramic dish and saying, "ding, ding, ding..."

After dinner Amelia was in a much better mood than she had been that afternoon. She seemed so happy and playful we thought it would be fun to take her to Petsmart to see the dogs, birds and fish. Amelia liked the dogs she saw, which was no surprise (she has always liked doggies) but what Amelia seemed to really love were the gerbils. Several gerbils in a little gerbil house kept skittering out, twitching their noses ("any food on ya?") and slipping back out of sight over and over. Amelia thought this was great.

Gerbils, it turns out, look a whole lot like mice and Amelia loves her stuffed mousey. She kept giggling and smiling and saying, "mousey" at the gerbils when they would stand up on their hind legs for a look at us.

I realize that a young toddler probably is not conscientious enough or responsible enough to handle a gerbil, but seeing those little critters last night made me want to buy one.

Lisa