Tuesday, December 3, 2013

A mouse in the house


We have a wonderful in-home therapist.  Her name is Ms. Nicole and she has made a HUGE difference with our aspie, who loves her dearly.  He quickly grew attached to her and when she is here, you will find him sitting in Ms. Nicole's lap while they are working.  Not only has Nicole gotten close to our aspie but she has also been extremely efficient in conquering some of my aspie's biggest issues.  Nicole came up with a way to handle our aspie's obsession of knives, has gotten him to say hello and goodbye when people come and go from our home, and has gotten him to write his name legibly in the last three or so months she has been with us.  She is so sweet, quiet and understanding and has become a member of our family since she is her nearly every morning in our home.  She even goes out with us when we think our aspie might have a hard time, like to birthday parties or trick or treating, and is planning on working on our aspie's ability to go to different stores in the near future.  Since she has become a member of our family, she gets to be here with the good times, the bad and unfortunately for her, the often occurring weird and unusual things that occur in our crazy family.  Her first experience of the un-normal was in October when we had a bat in the house.  She held the kiddos at bay while my husband and I wrangled the beast outside, and just the other day she was there again when another, smaller visitor came to visit. 

Before Nicole's arrival on Black Friday, I was vacuuming when I spotted a tiny cute field mouse in our dining room.  I guessed I had scared it with the vacuum cleaner because it went running across the room and stopped in front of me like a deer in headlights.  And although it was cute, it scared the crap out of me since I wasn't expecting it, causing me to scream as well.  My husband came running in to see what my shrill was over just in time to see our guest scurry around the corner into a foyer and under the toy box.  He looked but couldn't find it so we figured it had run some place else and we both knew it was time to set up some traps after the kids went to bed.  When Nicole got there we informed her of our furry friend so if it made an appearance again she would have my same reaction. 

A couple hours into their work, and during one of my son's breaks, Ms Nicole calmly and quietly said, "Umm, it's back."  Not being so calm my husband and I went running into the dining room to again watch the mouse run back to the foyer and under the toy box.  This time though our running made the boys curious and caused them to come running as well.  They made it in time to spot the mouse too.  "How cute!" the baby squawked.  "It's Jerry!" our aspie yelled.  "Jerry is here," referring to Jerry from the Tom and Jerry cartoon. From their excitement it became quickly apparent that a non-lethal method of removal was going to be necessary for our four legged friend.  Since the mouse was on the run, all of us kept spotting it going from here to there making the kiddos even more excited about our house guest, and so we had to be proactive and decided to hunt down the mouse before our kids decided to catch "Jerry" themselves.

Armed with Tupperware, my husband and I positioned ourselves on either side of the toy box and Ms Nicole had the kids on the steps so they could look over to watch.  With a yard stick, my husband nudged the mouse and got him running into my direction with the plan that I would set the Tupperware bowl overtop of the mouse trapping him.  Well, that was the plan anyway.  In reality, here is what happened.

Mouse came running towards me at an un-godly speed which made me jump, scream and miss the mouse.  Our dog Charlie (who loves to hunt) spotted the mouse, smashed through our lane of toys to force the mouse towards me and started biting at the mouse.  By this point the kids were screaming and Ms. Nicole had the brains to jump onto Charlie stopping him from grabbing the mouse.  The mouse had run back towards my husband who was now stuck under the toy box in the attempt to block the mouse.  With Ms. Nicole holding back Charlie and laughing her ass off, the kids escaped the steps, still screaming and now were climbing on top of my husband, who was still pinned, trying to look to find out if the mouse was okay.  I, who always thought of myself as calm in chaotic situations, was just sitting on the floor in a daze not sure what was going on wishing I had gone Black Friday shopping.  Once I came to I realized the mouse must have been just as confused because it was running back and forth down the lane of toys not knowing what to do.  Finally, after my hubs got the kids off of him and he sat up, Ms Nicole had Charlie calmed down, and I got my wits to me, we watched as the mouse came to a stop, in a white flag raising style, and allowed my husband to place the plastic bowl over top of him.  We slid a piece of cardboard under the bowl and I carried the mouse outside to release back into the wild.  Dazed, the mouse and I exchanged a look for quite some time before I finally left him there.  As I walked away I swear the mouse had a look of both thankfulness and pity on his face.  The kids watched him from a window for some time while the mouse bathed himself, and finally went on his way to his  other "home". 

And so, I think we can officially say the Ms. Nicole is a member of the house of crazies.  She has been here and survived some of the weirdest things that occurs in our home and has lived to tell about it.  And to boot, she comes back!  Thanks Ms. Nicole!  We hope you enjoy your birthday on Saturday and wouldn't know what to do without you!  And always remember, you never know what each day will bring, but we can promise you it will never get boring!

2 comments:

Angel the Alien said...

I am glad you didn't kill the mouse! I am staying with my parents and they think a mouse is in the attic, so they bought a mousetrap... but so far as I know, they haven't put it in there yet, because I got too upset! If I hear the mouse get caught by the trap (the attic is right next to where I sleep) I will bawl my head off!

Unknown said...

Oh no Angel! I hope the mouse is caught in Tupperware then! I hate killing things too and even carry bugs to the door and release them outside! I hope you guys can find and release your house guest soon! Have wonderful holidays and thanks for reading! And btw I love your screen name!