Geetle came home from school on Monday and gave the usual report…she played dinosaurs with Matthew, Eric wore his wheelie shoes again, etc. Then she casually told us that Sunny had died. Sunny is the class hamster. Given our recent Winnie problem, we were taken by surprise.

BAGM: What does that mean, that Sunny died?

Geetle: She went away and is not coming back.

BAGM: Does that make you sad?

Geetle: No.

BAGM: What did the teacher say about Sunny today?

Geetle: That we are taking a break from pets.

Given this turn of events, we decided to rethink our Winnie plan. It seems like Geetle is ready to learn about the death of pets. So, today BAGD took a “phone call” from the Hamster Groomer while Geetle was at school. When she got home, we told her that the Groomer called to say that Winnie had died. She got very quiet. BAGD asked her if she wanted to pick out a new hamster from the babies born to BAGD’s uncle. She said yes, but turned away. Later BAGD asked her what she was thinking about and she said “Winnie.” I think that got him right in the Daddy, so he asked if she wanted to go get a new hamster today. Of course she did, so off they went to the Petstore.

We now have a new Winnie. This one is caramel colored. But her name is Winnie. Geetle says she likes the name and wants to use it again; she likes the letter “W”. I think she is totally over the old Winnie. But she did ask me tonite if Winnie and Sunny were together. I told her yes. I do not think she understands death, but I think she understands it means going away and not coming back.

So that problem is solved, somewhat. Now our next problem is whether or not to force Geetle to rename the new Winnie. It sounds harmless enough, naming the new hamster the same as the old. But remember Pookie. That is pretty confusing to him. So, we might just hijack the naming. BAGD and I are pretty confident that if we start calling new Winnie something else, the kids will follow. Right now, we are tossing around “Cupcake” “Hammy” and “Waffles.”