Monday, October 20, 2008

Beardy Jumpy Cricket

When our oldest, Dawn, was turning 5, she was obsessed with The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin and all animals. We told her she could get a pet for her 5th birthday. Daddy and Dawn head to the pet store and end up coming home with a reptile - a Bearded Dragon to be exact. My reaction was not so positive - no fur, don't want it. Needless to say, my lack of interest in this lizard mattered little to Dawn. She quickly named him Beardy Jumpy Cricket - the last part of his name due to what he ate - live crickets. GAG.

Fast forward 5 years. Since I prefer things with fur, I'm not much help with taking care of a lizard. I have no experience here! Beardy was obviously not in good health. We knew there was a good chance we were moving, so we asked Dawn to consider giving him to a better home. She sadly, but sweetly agreed that if Beardy stayed with us his life expectancy was not good. My friend, Debbie, was wanting to get a Bearded Dragon and LOVES animals (maybe a little too much), so she happily took him in.

We got word between moving into the house and having the baby (so between 37 and 40 weeks of pregnancy) that Beardy had died. I could not tell Dawn. Could not. The emotions in the house were already overwhelming. I just couldn't do it. Yep, bad mom alert! Well, last night, Dawn finally asked "How is Beardy?" after we got off the phone with Miss Debbie. After my husband's deer in the headlight look (wimp), I pulled her aside and told her about Beardy. We had some tears and lots of sadness today, but overall, she is doing ok.

Here is a picture of Beardy, with our cat (much more to my liking), Cami.

3 comments:

Maurisa said...

R.I.P Beardy! Love the Mayerle Family

Bob and Claire said...

Oh, what timing! I'm so sorry (well, for Dawn, LOL). I still remember how sweet you were to offer his services as a demo when I was teaching the reptile unit last year! Is she, um, going to get another one? For the record, I'm with you. Reptiles--*shudder*. That reptile unit was the hardest thing for me to teach. Blech. You are such a good mom for getting her one in the first place! I am so impressed!! : )

Tonya said...

NO, we are not getting another reptile. At least not if I have any say in the matter! Not sure I'm a good mom with the lizard thing - I never touched it and called it "the creepy lizard" most of the time. We're trying to convince Eric that it's time to get another dog. :-)