The Standoff

Let me start by telling you about the little "incident" we had yesterday. I was standing at the kitchen sink cleaning something when I heard Abbey screaming and crying. Naturally I assumed she and Olivia were fighting, so I was getting ready to put my best mom voice on (a.k.a. yell). She ran into the kitchen in near hysterics. She said "I just saw the mouse on Olivia's bed!" At this, I grabbed the broom and headed back to their bedroom. I slammed it down on the bed a few times, trying to get the mouse to scurry out so I could attack it. No luck. So I left the room and went back to what I was doing, broom never leaving my side.

That's when I heard Kaleb scream and he told me he was trying to go to the bathroom and saw it in the hallway by the laundry baskets. When they told me again it was just sitting back behind the baskets I went back there, clutching my broom tightly. We closed the bedroom and bathroom doors so it couldn't dart into one of those rooms. The only place it could go was right past us. So imagine it if you can. I'm standing in the narrow hallway, with four small children gathered around. We're standing still and tense, watching two white laundry baskets full of clothes. That's the scene.

I spotted the mouse back there and decided to move one basket to get a better view. I moved one successfully, spotting the mouse hiding as far away as he could behind the second basket. Keep in mind the kids are all still hovered around me. Broom lifted, I reach over to move the second basket. The mouse took off, scurried OVER MY FOOT and into the living room. We all started screaming (though Kat insists she did not scream) and jumping around in all directions! It would have been amusing to anyone observing.

We didn't see the mouse again before we left for the day. It was quite the exciting morning, as you can imagine. Shortly after I got home from work, I heard the trap engage. Kris said "I think we got it." I was scared (but hopeful) to look; I did glance over though and saw there was indeed a small mouse trying to get its head out of the trap. After a few moments of struggling, it gave up the fight. It was time to celebrate! But then there was the question of "Who's going to pick it up?" ONE of us managed to remove the trap with said mouse in it and that was that. Or so we thought...

In the back of my mind, I worried that there was more than one. I was convinced that my first sighting of the mouse was that of a small brown mouse. The one that was caught was more grayish and seemed awfully small. But I tried to tell myself I just saw it wrong the first time. Until this morning. When I woke up, a second trap has been sprung, and we caught another small gray mouse.

While I am thankful and happy that we now have two less mice in our house, I am still worried there is a mother mouse somewhere, the one that keeps moving, feeding from and then avoiding the traps. We have two traps still set (though the peanut butter is completely gone from one of them) and we'll see what happens.

At this point, I have to ask myself what kind of a mouse mother sends her children out into a war zone? A cold, deranged one. That's what I say! I think the mastermind mouse is still living under the dishwasher, probably breeding a bigger army. This does not make me happy. Not one bit! But for now, I'll just have to rejoice in the little victories, right?