Bye Bye, Birdie

Today our sweet parakeet, Lucas, died.  I came home from class and all the boys were gone.  The past few days the bird had been quiet, but I've been so busy and distracted I hardly noticed.  Today he was on his perch and he fell over.  It was then that I realized something was wrong.  He could hardly keep his eyes open as he tried to eat some seeds and was lethargic.

I told the boys about their pet when they returned home.  Gabriel and Jojo were especially concerned and we took Lucas out to hold him.  A few hours later it was clear he was about to die so we pet him a long while.  He tried to fly and landed on Gabriel's shirt. 

Then we put him back in to his cage.  I turned around and Gabriel was sobbing.  I held him a while.  Pretty soon Mike and I were each holding a sobbing boy.  It really tore my heart out to see them upset. Christian shed about two tears and ran back to watch a game on t.v.  A few moments later he found us all on the couch with his brothers and he said, "It's just a bird. It's not like a family member died."  Oh, but it was close enough. 

That bird gave me such happiness.  He always chirped, and he would show off for guests.  A couple months ago Jeanne, my SIL, noticed Lucas running back and forth in the cage and bobbing his head up and down at her.  It sounded like he was tap dancing in the cage, and he would only do that when guests were there.  Lucas went to bed when we did and never woke us up.  He travelled well, too.

Pets give us so much -- they give us comfort, unconditional love, and peacefulness. Even a little bird like Lucas gave so much.  When I noticed Lucas had stopped breathing Jojo commented, "Let's not tell Gaby.  He'll be sad."  And then Jojo proceeded to draw a picture of Lucas lying on his side in a cage.  We each handle grieving in different ways.  I encouraged the boys to cry -- let it out.  It'll make us feel better to get the sadness out.  I hope my sadness will go away soon.  Tomorrow we'll bury him.

God bless you, Lucas.

Bird Christmas Present

It's Not What's for Dinner
Don't worry, Lucas
We don't view you as dessert
Or even dinner

Papa sent it for the boys.

Cheap Thrills

Today after dropping Christian off at preschool, Gabie, Jojo and I went to the dollar store to buy some cleaning products. I walked out with two bags and I only spent $9 and some change. What did I buy? Besides the toilet bowl cleaner and kitchen spray, I found a puzzle, two coloring books, a toy truck for Gabie, and a bag of bugs for Christian.

As you may know, Christian loves bugs, critters, and anything found in nature. On the rare occasions that I have taken him to the toy section of a store or to an actual toy store, he will scan the entire place and leave with a toy snake or a bug creature. That's it. His nana, my mother-in-law, is amazed at what Christian will get when we go the toy store. She will try to buy other things for him, but he's usually quite content with his small purchase. You can bet that makes this mother's heart sing.

And really, kids get so bored with what they have anyway so why buy things everytime you go to the store? If you do that then you get pestered to buy more things for them everytime you take them shopping. So not only am I practical, but I am cheap, er, frugal.

Take Lucas, our little bird. He is a wonderful pet, although he defecates constantly. Poor little birdy bird shall forever have his wings clipped because I am not going to like scraping birdy doo from all the walls, floors, and weasel heads that may be in the line of fire. What a fantastic steal he was -- $20 for the bird, cage, and birdseed! I certainly was not aware of such a sale the weekend we purchased Christian's birthday present. What a pleasing memory.

I left the bag of bugs that I'd found this morning on Christian's booster seat in the van. When he saw those creepy crawlies he was thrilled to pieces and you would've thought he had just gotten the best toy in the world. In his mind, it is. Cheap thrills, indeed.













Christian with a real firefly he caught in Nana and Papa's yard this summer















Christian & Sir Craptastico