Peanut

The 5th grade class I am teaching has a beloved class pet, a guinea pig named Peanut. I'm not a 'pet person' per se, I'm a horse person ALL the way! The students each take turns taking Peanut home for the weekend to clean her cage, play with her, pet her, etc., yet the 1st weekend I was teaching no one took Peanut home. So I did. And my girls LOVED it!

Well, yesterday Maiya and Stuart came for a quick lunch and Maiya had Peanut out for a bit. When the students came back and I was reading, one girl hurried to the front and said Peanut was bleeding. Eek. Pets. Blood. Not good. I said I'd text the former teacher and see if it was normal...long story short, she broke a nail too high and it bled. So I ended up taking Peanut home for the night to clean her cage and give her a pet manicure. Clip. Clip.

Kiana and Maiya were beyond elated. Maiya asked so sweetly if we could get a guinea pig. And I sweetly replied in the negative. I know that means m.o.m. would end up caring for the pet. Denied.

The next morning the students arrived to class all chatty (like normal), except their conversation was about the previous night's 5th Grade Maturation program. Those awkward nights that make it into student chat circles...whew! I do have a point in connecting these two incidences. As I was completing attendance, one of the girls came up to my desk with the biggest, sweetest smiles:

Mrs. Pippin, I know why Peanut was bleeding yesterday. She was turning into a woman...a grown up Peanut!

So innocent. I wanted to laugh out loud, but I knew I couldn't. I also knew I couldn't keep her misinformed, so I smiled back and told her that could be the case but that a broken nail was the culprit. She shrugged and insisted her guess was accurate. To keep any of the other students from thinking the same, during a quick rundown of our day I updated them on Peanut's status from yesterday. I pointed out my nail that ripped too low, into the skin, and bled, requiring a band-aid and it hurt. Peanut was in the same boat. End of story.

I guess I never thought of guinea pigs turning into grown ups. I love the way kids think!