When my sailor was about 3, he had a pet guinea pig, that he named 'Fudge Ripple' It was the color of, you guessed it, fudge ripple ice cream.
It was so darn cute seeing those 2 together. We had some sort of board game that had inch high plastic letters of the alphabet. One day, I went out to the sun room, where
Fudge Ripple lived, saw him on the floor, with Ben down there too. He was using those letters and when asked "What'cha doing?" I was told "I'm teaching Fudge Ripple to read, and first he has to learn the alphabet. We're going to be on 'stupid pet tricks' on David Letterman"
OMG, it was so cute.
Warning, do not read the rest if Fudge Ripple dying will bother you
One day, Fudge Ripple died. It was the middle of winter, the ground was frozen, there was no way to have a proper 'funeral' and he was too big to flush down the toilet, as my oldest son suggested.
So, we put Fudge Ripple where Fudge Ripple belongs, in the freezer! He was wrapped well in plastic, but it was clear plastic, just there until the ground thawed and we could bury him. Trouble is, I didn't keep the freezer as neat and organized as it should be, and sometimes, when the door was opened, out fell Fudge Ripple onto the floor. He made a preety good THUMP