Colonel Mustard, Candlestick, Conservatory?

Close, but wrong.

Bridger, Hunting Knife, Special Education Classroom.

No Thursday would be complete without a little drama.

Background:  Bridger was asked to help some Boy Scouts get their Disabilities Merit Badge by doing a presentation on Tues.  Alan was also asked to help the older Scouts get their Law Merit Badge that same night.  Alan has a set presentation he uses when asked to counsel this merit badge for which he conducts a moot court with the scouts prosecuting and defending a specific ambiguous case involving a hunting knife.

Alan was coming straight from work to the Scout meeting and asked me to grab his hunting knife for him to use.  Since I am only carrying 50 bags of stuff anyway for Bridger's presentation and it is pouring rain, I consolidated and happen to throw the knife in Bridger's wheelchair bag.  I didn't think to go through the bag this morning when I sent him to school.  Luckily, the teachers did when they unpacked him this morning and found the weapon.  Our county has mandatory suspension for students bringing weapons to school.  The non-verbal child must have had to plead the 5th since he had no way of explaining his actions during questioning.

I got a call from the principal about an "incident".  I suspected child #1, possibly #3, but never sweet little #4.  Apparently she had to plead our cause to the Assistant Superintendent to grant us a suspension pardon with the sternest of warnings to be a little more careful next time.  I had to immediately come to the school and retrieve the knife.

When Bridger got home I asked him if he had a knife in his backpack today, to which he confessed by blowing out his nose - his way of saying "yes".  Guilty.  Our medical file is already volumes thick -- I guess it is only fitting that our school file be equally as large.

Silly Rabbit

Easter came and went and left us a few souvenirs.

I could easily make this post an "Ode to the Bunnies", but I'll refrain and simply say that these are the best little pets ever.  Lance's quote of, "Mom, these are better than 10 dogs!" says it all.

Comparing to the complaints my friends have of their dogs:

• $7000 fence for dog vs. $19 fence around mini play yard for bunnies
• picking up dog poop in the yard vs. bunny droppings just drop from cage and dissolve into grass
• forcing kids to go walk dog vs. every day my kids running home from school to play with their bunnies (I don't see these things losing their novelty anytime soon and if they do, they can survive a day or two or three of no attention)

This is our biggest pet commitment yet.  The only other was the beta fish experiment and he lasted only 2 weeks before I gave Max away because the kids weren't attending to his needs.  So the responsibility lecture was mighty hefty with this acquisition.

I researched breeds and found the Mini-Rex to be the most mild in nature and softest coat.  I located a breeder and got these the bunnies when they were just six weeks old and in these pictures these little dwarfs are now full-sized.

Hop and Oreo.  They had to choose names that Bridger could say.  Oreo was a stretch for his speech ability but given the high motivation this provided him, Oreo is now part of his vocabulary.  Lance is in love with his bunnies and excited to finally earn the Boy Scout Pet Care achievement pin.  Evie is her motherly self to them, Sadie is proudly overcoming fears.  Bridger laughs hysterically as they hop all over him and he is practicing "soft hands".  Bridger was delighted to hold Oreo in his travel cage while I cleaned the garage Saturday.  I heard Bridger laughing and yelling "OOUT, OOOOUUUT" and I looked up to see that Bridger had figured out how to open the cage door and he was pointing to the bunny hopping around the garage. I smiled that he was correctly communicating to me.  The bunny was indeed ooout.  And Eliza, she is 10 different layers of adorable with them.  She picks them up and carries them all over and talks to them in her high-pitched sugar voice like they are her live baby dolls.  We purchased two bunny leashes so the kids could have as close to a "dog" experience as possible.  Don't fall for that one.  Bunnies don't walk on leashes.

And I have to admit, I am not a small creature lover.  But I am quite smitten with these sweet little fuzzy things.

Total financial pet commitment = $175

Time it has thus far taken from my life = 3 hours

Time it has been given to from the kid's attention = 120 hours

The fun it has added to their life = priceless.