On Monday Alice came home with her monthly newsletter from her teacher. On the calendar the last weekend of February listed Hunter as being available. I messaged Miss Ibscher right away only to find out that he was already spoken for. We then found out that the next available date wasn't until April 9th. We booked Hunter for that date, and then for another long weekend in June. The girls were sad that we had to wait so long, but they understood. All of this was arranged as of Tuesday night. Then on Wednesday we got some sad news. Hunter died.
I read the text in the middle of the day at school, it popped up on my screen and I couldn't believe it. He really was the sweetest little hamster.
I was sad. I was worried about Alice and Kate. Alice was sad, but okay. They'd had a funeral at school and buried him by some trees at the back of the school field.
Yesterday (Thursday) I was the duty mom at preschool with Fiona. I took the entire day and after school we picked up Kate from the bus and then went to get Alice. We had arranged with Miss Ibscher that Alice would stay with her after the bell rang and we'd all pop in for a little visit. We talked about Hunter and hamsters in general, and of course Alice. Miss Ibscher revealed that she would be going to get a new hamster that night.
Kate wanted to see where Hunter was buried so we walked to the back of the field and Alice showed us his burial site.
Tonight Kate and I were sitting in the basement reading some of her French books and we heard Alice crying. I ran upstairs to find out what was wrong. Alice was wearing a little purse and crying. Inside the purse were the pictures I'd printed of her and Hunter. Alice was finally crying because Hunter was dead. She had a cry and a cuddle and then we made a little story about Hunter.
In the end, Alice was looking forward to getting to know Harvey - the new hamster. I think she's slowly starting to understand death. A little. I'm grateful that it's only a little.
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