Mila managed to go all of about 72 hours before "I HAVE A HAMSTER!" turned into "I WANT ANOTHER PET!"
It was a nice run.
So, Jojo is all fine and dandy and Mila still enthusiastically loves him. She loves him so much he's going to end up becoming a rug or a three-legged hamster or something, but it's still ... love. In addition to the hamster, Mila also has two dogs who follow her around everywhere and three cats who wish she would go away (the cats are firmly on Team Alexis, so Mila doesn't stand a chance of winning their love). We also have a saltwater fish tank, a freshwater fish tank, and a pond that I'm going to fill with concrete if it doesn't stop leaking AGAIN. Still. Fish live in it.
My point is that there are a lot of pets in this house. Way too many, in fact. If I had my way, we'd be down to fish and cats only because CATS ARE THE SUPERIOR PET THE END. Don't bother to @ me on this. It is scientifically proven that cats are better. The dogs are here, though, and they're staying so I just deal with it while Mila loooooves their existence.
And yet, Mila started in with wanting a guinea pig about thirteen seconds after Jojo was in our house. The gentle request has become more and more persistent and loud, to the point that tonight on the way home from whatever event we were at, Mila pointedly said, "After I get my guinea pig ..."
I stopped her RIGHT THERE. Real quick like. AND YET.
Later, she was having a totally separate conversation and threw in, "Kadence's mom said she can have a baby guinea pig just like me so we're going to give them the same name."
NOOOOPE.
It's all really convincing and tugs at the heart strings, but it doesn't convince me or tug at MY heart strings. I'm tempted to reinstate The Rule - Two pets have to die before one new one comes in.
My only concern is that Mila might decide to go ahead and select which two need to go RIGHT. NOW.
RUN, ALI CAT.