Meet McKenzie

We have a new pet. It snuck up on us and grew over the Christmas holidays. The last day before vacation, Hannah brought home a dirt-filled sock from preschool. Its two googily eyes stared back at me and just begged to be thrown in the trash. But the promise from the preschool teachers that hair would appear on our "sock buddy" was enough for Hannah to save its life from the clutches of the trash man. She named it, faithfully watered it, and put it in windows where sunshine was plenty. Sure enough, our little McKenzie has hair. She lost one of her eyes and her nose in the growing process, but peeks out at you through her unruly mane with one good eye. Josh has even begun giving her haircuts - which is just an extra treat for me because he leaves the trimmings scattered all around her each time. It's like a little present that I get to clean up. I love those kind of presents. Please, give me more.

All in all, she's a pretty good pet. She doesn't smell, there's no cage cleaning to be done, and I don't have to give her any attention. Aside from her hair clippings, she is hassle-free. If only I could convince Chase that this is the pet for him. He turns eight this year - and has unfortunately not forgotten the hastily-made promise of three years ago in which he gets a pet on his eighth birthday. I totally expected him to forget or be into something else by the time he turned eight. He's not. And I am so not looking forward to September.