RIP Piggies

It's never going to be a good morning when your child wakes you up with "Mommy, there's something wrong with...."

Wiley's guinea pig Mystery died on Thursday. We made a heroic effort to bring her into the vet, and arrived just in time for her to die in his arms while he was taking a minute to say goodbye before we were going to put her to sleep.

We discussed that while he was very sad, and he was doing a hard thing, it was good that she died knowing he loved her, and that he got to spend her last moments with her, as well as so much time in general. The kids spent most every morning cuddling with their piggies, and it struck me many times that one of the great things about home schooling is that the kids got to spend time bonding with and loving their pets.

Teddy died on Saturday.

It's not clear why, though I have recently learned that green beans are poisonous to guinea pigs. Who knew? Rhubarb, yes--of course. But green beans? They did have green beans about a week ago, and I suspect this may be the cause of their demise. This was not in any of the books I'd read, nor have I ever heard it. I just found out from a "Guinea Pig Secrets" ebook.