Our War With the Mice...

Dugan Family...3

Mice...1

I've commented in a few past posts about our new live-in pets of the rodent variety. It seems that we saw one in the act last evening and my skin is still crawling.

Last evening, Jason and I were watching football and I was putting Joshua to sleep when we heard the pitter patter of little feet on the kitchen floor. Immediately, we both knew what it was- and neither of us was happy. Jason immediately jumped up (knowing that I wasn't about to) to see whether he could confirm a mouse sighting. Sure enough there the little critter was- running from our pocket doors between the kitchen and dining room to Watson's food dish and then back under the stove. He witnessed this run several times while trying to place traps in strategic locations to end this little event. To no avail. I, at this point, was sitting curled up in a ball on the couch with NO intention of putting my feet on the floor. We even left the traps out all night hoping that he'd get caught, but they were empty this morning.

Which is why we moved on to Plan B...the mouse man. They'll be coming tomorrow afternoon to put down whatever sort of chemicals will apparently begin the demise of the rodents and seal up their entrance points into our house. So that's good news, except for the fact that we need to go home and deal with them for one more night. Honestly, a hotel room isn't looking too bad for tonight. Or perhaps we'll have a family bed night, order a pizza and hole ourselves up upstairs so we don't have to listen to the little critters. I had no idea I was so phobic of mice, but it's been confirmed----- I AM! God bless my husband for his ability to keep it together and deal with the mice. I know he doesn't like them any more than I do, but I can't even think about them being in the house without wanting to jump out of my skin. And my OCD tendencies kick in BIG TIME when I think about how dirty everything is in the kitchen and under the stove where they've been hiding out. (I actually just made a note for the mouse man to look in the stove drawer to make sure there isn't a nest that needs to be cleaned out. I guarantee I won't be looking!)

Joshua continues to do well. I'm convinced that he's growing about an inch every day right now. He's starting to eat better and enjoy finger foods a lot more. Last night I gave him bites of my chicken for the first time and he did better with that than I would have expected. His favorite still seems to be his Yo Baby yogurt, but I suppose he could be eating worse things than yogurt. Perhaps his love of dairy has something to do with the cheese craving I had while pregnant with him?

Still no progress with walking, but he did figure out a new trick with the aid of his lion this morning. Ordinarily he'll only go in straight lines with the lion. He'll plow full steam ahead and until he runs into something and then wait for one of us to turn him around. This morning he started walking circles around our kitchen table (with some tight corners, I might add), so that's progress in being able to negotiate the turns. He's getting a lot more secure on his feet and his confidence is building. Right now he'll take a few lunging steps toward something he REALLY wants, but I have a feeling that will be increasing in frequency very soon.

I'll keep everyone posted about the events of the great mouse war at our house. One more night of the creeps and then I'll have some sort of satisfaction in knowing that the chemicals are there to do them in and the entrance points have been sealed up. And if that doesn't work, I'll be packing up this weekend.

A new favorite picture of ours...

Here's Joshua with his lion and the turns he's learned to manage. Pretty impressive, I'd say!