When Collin stayed with us during his Christmas break a few months ago, he brought along the newest member of the family, his pet chameleon. He bought him sometime last fall and has been quite the caretaker ever since.
I had to ask Collin how to spell his name because I wasn't sure. Collin's reply: "His full name is Bruticus Lord of The Chameleons but it's Bruticus for short." Ha!
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| Collin with his pet Bruticus. |
When Collin travels for an extended period of time, he has to bring Bruticus in his cage along with him. It's quite the elaborate setup, kind of like an aquarium without water. It has a heat lamp that attaches to the cage to keep Bruticus at the right temperature. And every week or so, Collin has to go to the pet store to purchase a bunch of crickets for Bruticus to eat. He just dumps them in the cage and Bruticus takes care of the rest. And we've since learned that there are 2 kinds of crickets: those that chirp and those that do not. I'll let you guess as to which one is preferable for when Bruticus is staying for an extended period in your home.
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| Baby Bruticus, aww! |
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| Bruticus getting bigger in his cage. |
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| Wonder if this pic was taken after a big meal?? |
Connor and Kaitlynn are quite fascinated with Bruticus. They love it when Collin takes him out to "play." Bruticus prefers being up high, so if you put him on your hand, he'll immediately crawl up to your shoulder to perch there. In his cage, he can sometimes be so difficult to spot (he IS a chameleon after all), but you can usually find him at the top of the plants in his cage.
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| Collin gently places Bruticus on Kaitlynn's arm. |
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| Connor looked a litle unsure at first. |
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| Now he's much more relaxed with Bruticus. |
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| Closeup of Bruticus in Collin's hand. I noticed how he started blending with the aqua couch pillows! |
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| Kaitlynn finally got up the nerve to let Bruticus hang out on her shoulder. |
It's been a while since I visited blogland (my computer has been having some serious issues and will only run at a snail's pace which has deterred me from doing anything other than just the basics online). We are having a lazy Saturday morning, and I decided I was going to treat myself to catching up - no matter how much time it took. =)
ReplyDeleteIt's so funny for me to read about spring break activity. Can you believe that our spring break doesn't start until Good Friday?! I'm especially homesick this time of year because you all are getting sunshine and warm weather, and as of last week, we were still getting snow. I miss the early springs. Our flowers are just now starting to bloom and trees are still bare with the exception of those that have flowering buds before the leaves appear.
I was so excited to see wedding preparation activity for Ben's upcoming wedding. What a joyful time for your family!!
Cutest picture award was a three-way tie for me between Kaitlynn's cowgirl attire (girl. THAT was TOO cute.), Kaitlynn and Anais at their fun day events loving on each other, and you and Connor at the Valentine's party. Sadly, the chameleon didn't make the cut - LOL! Although I did think the kids were so brave to let that thing crawl on them!
I teared up at the post on "Choices." We've had similar conversations over here about "do you want another kid?" Parenting is SO hard. I've been reading a book called Child Parenting Tips by Reb Bradley that a friend recommended. It's pretty hard core, but I've found more of it to touch on the issues we're struggling with than not. He talks about the difference between "raising" children and "training" them. And how our job is to train them into maturity. Anyway, so far I've liked it, and it has helped me gain some perspective in the really frustrating moments and issues we're facing.
Old Man Winter has made way too many appearances around here for my liking, too. I think we had snow at least once a week for every week since the beginning of February - all the way through last week. One snowfall was 22". It was CRAZY!! Fortunately, ours mostly takes the shape of snow and not ice so we don't have as much of the breaking limbs and power outages. Needless to say, I am past ready for spring!!
Better sign off and get some things done around here. I miss you and love you tons!! =)