Sleepover with Hazel the Hedgehog

Mrs. Curtis was Irini's teacher two years ago. This year she's had the pleasure (she tells us) to have Amalia as well. It's been a very good year for Amalia who has grown by leaps and bounds. But perhaps the biggest highlight of the year came this weekend, with the visit to our house by Hazel the Hedgehog. The story is long but suffice it to say that Mrs. Curtis' youngest son decided to allow his mom to adopt Hazel for a few months in her classroom. Hazel has such a perfect demeanor that she makes a "very easy" pet, requiring minimum amounts of tending while providing kids with hour upon hour of entertainment, company and learning about small animals. Over the course of the last few months the kids have taken turns hosting Hazel in their homes for the weekend. This weekend was our turn!

Daddy had to head over to school to pick up Amalia since, strangely, the bussing company doesn't like hedgehogs on their busses. So, mommies and daddies make the transfer instead. We were given Hazel's cage, a small plastic basket with some extra wood carvings, food, a small book of how to take care of her and her very own travelogue where the kids put pictures and descriptions of the visits of Hazel throughout her semester. It's filled with pictures of Hazel playing with all the kids at their houses. Quite lovely, really.

Normally on a day when daddy picks up Amalia she wants to spend the time with him and head out for lunch, but this time there was no such luck for daddy. The directive came loud and clear. He was to drop off Amalia and Hazel at home immediately, so that the two of them could bond and have some play time together. And so it was. 

By the time Irini got home a few hours later Amalia was an expert. The girls played with Hazel, let her run around the house (who knew hedgehogs were so quick) and sat her in their laps. She is really quite adorable. Tomorrow Hazel's time with us will come to an end. She's had lots of visitors while here and it will continue tomorrow when we take her to Kira who lives in the same condo as us. She too, we know, will be delighted. As the time draws near the questions start up... "can we get a hedgehog daddy?"