Bailey's a Big Brother!

A week ago Saturday, Isaac and I adopted 2 sister gerbils from a friend whose cat didn't care for them. Oops. The original plan was to make them class pets, but until I get a second cage at school, I can't leave them up there because ALL power is cut on weekends. I don't want the little girls to roast, and their cage is too big to lug back and forth, so for now, the girls are living in their gerbil mansion on our hearth.

They are sisters and were born in February of 2009, so we've got about 18 months left with these sweet girls, hopefully! Sadly, they're about as identical as identical gets, so we haven't named them. However, they have incredibly different personalities, and we definitely know which one is which within 30 seconds of walking up to the cage. Gerbils don't usually bite, and they are getting very used to being handled by Isaac and me. They sleep a lot during the day, but they aren't loud enough to keep us awake at night (yay!).

Up until Friday, this was as close as Bailey was allowed to the gerbils. I was afraid he might think they'd make a tasty meal. Bailey is insanely jealous when we handle the birds, so I didn't know what to expect with the gerbils. However, each day this week, Bailey watched the gerbils play in their cage more and more. He was mesmerized with how they dug in their bedding, clawed through their food dish, and crawled through their tunnels. Finally on Friday, I let them out of their cage to run around the wooden box in which their cage sits and the hearth. He did really well, and just watched and watched.

Yesterday, I let him get right up with them. Bailey loved that! He seems to think he's their daddy or incredibly over-productive big brother. As he kept a tight reign on making sure they stayed out of the fire place and on the hearth, I decided to clean their cage.

After a bit, our brave little gerbil decided the fire place was a great place to play. WRONG! So, into their pink ball they went. They really don't like the pink ball, but if they want to get into dangerous places, they get the pink ball.

Bailey did a great job of keeping an eye on where they rolled. He eventually realized that the rug was keeping them from rolling where they wanted. I was cleaning the cage in the kitchen, and heard Bailey scratching on something. When I looked up, Bailey had rolled up the corner of the living room rug! He had figured out why the gerbils were stuck in their ball, and fixed the problem!

Then he helped them even more by giving them the gentlest little push. It was adorable how my dog who knows nothing about playing was finally playing with the gerbils. WOW! Not only is my kid a genius, but he's learned how to have fun, too! We always knew he was sweet and caring, but now he's shown us even more about his complex personality. Precious Bailey!