It turns out, cages sold for hamsters aren’t truly intended for the type of hamster you have. A teddy bear hamster, or Syrian Hamster, is much happier in an aquarium; as opposed to a cage.
So last week, on a random school night, I took you to the pet store to help me pick out a 20 gallon aquarium for Alpha.
Not only is he clearly much happier in the open space, but it is undeniable that you are much more excited to have a pet hamster now!
You are actively involved and excited each evening when we get him out to play.
Plus, it is much easier to clean his home that he predictably pees in the same corner now! Out with the cage, in with the aquarium.
I only recently realized that we are actually coming to the end of another decade. This decade itself has presented several major milestones for me:
2010: I became a parent for the first time when my son Jack was born.
2011: I turned 30 years old. Parents Magazine chose me as their official daddy blogger- a side gig that was last the next 4 years.
2012: I became the manager of the retention department at my employer at the time, which triggered my fascination with emotional intelligence- especially, the concept that being offended is always a person decision.
2013: My wife and I became debt-free, other than our mortgage.
2014: We started building our new house.
2015: We moved into our brand-new house; having previously owned a town home. I also started my first YouTube channel, which currently has over 8K subscribers and earns me an average of $500 per month.
2016: Four days after my 35th birthday, my daughter was born.
2017: The company I had been working for the past 11 years closed down my branch, starting a 6 month stretch of me being a stay-at-home dad.
2018: I made by television debut on the Lifetime Network show, This Time Next Year. I also got a new job, at a Fortune 500 Company, where I have now worked a year and a half.
As for 2019, there are 5 particular events that come to mind…
1- Existential crisis: Having reached all my major life goals before the age 40, I came to a point where I had to re-evaluate my goals and ambitions.
2- Jeep Wrangler: After owning my Honda Element since 2006, I finally got a new” vehicle- a 2010 Jeep Wrangler JK 6 Speed.
3- 20th Year High School Reunion: My wife and I had a great time with the people I grew up with and graduated with in 1999.
4- Releasing Original Songs: So far, my wife and I have released 4 new original songs together on my YouTube channel. Despite both moving to Nashville to start music careers, we had never publicly performed together.
5- 1st Family Pet: Despite our “no pet” policy in our home, my son wanted a teddy bear hamster for his 9th birthday. Ultimately, the hamster quickly became my pet- or at best, the “family” pet.
Now, with the 2020s ahead of me, I shall enter the decade in which I turn 40 and became of the parent of two teenagers. That ought to be fun.
Like clockwork, the moment you turned 9 years old (just a couple of weeks ago), you instinctively knew to trade in all of your interest and fascination of Pokemon, for WWE Wresting.
It’s amazing how much trivia you know about all the wrestlers already.
Mommy looked up online to see if by chance, a WWE event would be coming to Nashville anytime soon.
We were in luck: Monday Night Raw would be taking place at the Bridgestone Arena on December 2nd.
Needless to say, Mommy immediately bought the tickets (just $15 each)!
Your favorite wrestler is the masked Mexican-American living legend Rey Mysterio. Naturally, you had your hopes up that he would actually be at the event we would be attending.
When you looked up the roster the WWE website, he was not featured as one of the wrestlers for that night.
But our amazement, this past Monday night, we were pleasantly surprised when Rey Mysterio made multiple appearances throughout the night!
We could not have planned it that way had we tried.
The event started at 6:30 PM and it wasn’t over until 4 hours later! I had never been to a WWE wrestling event either, so I had no idea we would be getting so much bang for our buck.
It was definitely a coming of age milestone for you and I am so proud to have gotten to share it with you.
With Christmas coming up in just a few weeks, I have a feeling you’re going to be all about the baby dolls.
This past weekend when we returned from our Thanksgiving trip to Alabama, Mommy and I noticed you quietly entertaining yourself on the far side of the living room.
You discretely discovered a travel pack of Kleenex from one of the suitcases and decided that a few of the tissues would make the perfect sized blanket for one of your small baby dolls.
Then you determined that it was time to change the baby’s diapers, so you made her a new diaper with a few more of the tissues.
I know you are going to love any new baby dolls you get this year for Christmas!
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