Good-bye Oangy

Mason loves animals. He always has, and I suspect, he always will. This isn't a surprise since he has been around them all his life and he is James' son. He has even had a few pets of his own that he has loved, loved LOVED! Unfortunately, each of his pets haven't stayed that long. Perhaps it is his curse....

Mason and Layton, the night before we had to ship him back for his next phase of training.

Two months before Mason was born, we took a little CCI guide dog into our home to train. His name was Layton and he and Mason grew to be best friends. He was Mason's "yellow brother" and they were as thick as thieves. However, what our little chap didn't know was that Layton was only ours for a year and a half and then had to be returned to California for more training. That was the end of his friendship with his first furry friend, Layton.

Mason drawing out front with his pet kitty, Tim. Notice that Timothy is about to seriously scratch our boy. That devil cat....

Last Summer, James had a litter of motherless kittens show up at work and we decided to bring the gimpy one home to Mason. Mason was thrilled with his new friend! Whatever game he was playing, he wanted Timothy to be involved. As the weeks went on, we realized that we had not given our son a kitten, but some spawn of Satan! He was the meanest little cat that anyone had ever seen! Needless to say, we were thrilled when he ran away. Good-bye pet #2.

Mason and Oangy
A couple weeks ago when we got our little "cheekies" Mason fell head over heals for the little orange one he called, "Oangy". Every morning, the first thing he would want to do was hold his little Oangy. He couldn't have made a better choice because little Oangy was a faithful little friend that patiently put up with all of the love that Mason showered on her.....until yesterday.

Yesterday, one of my very very best friends, Lindsay, surprised me with a little visit. Her family recently adopted a beautiful little girl, Ginger, here in Provo and she came by to introduce us to her. I was in hog heaven catching up with Lindsay and seeing her little newborn! So much so, that I wasn't watching Mason hold his little chick as well as I should. The next thing I knew, Lindsay pointed out that Oangy was soaking wet. Mason had innocently introduced her to Gunner's freezing bowl of water and she was no longer breathing. I rushed her away and did everything (CPR....I'm not joking, warming her with a blow dryer, rubbing her, etc.) I could think of to revive her but nothing worked. Mason's little Oangy died. It was the saddest thing!

Oangy, the sweetest chick ever
At first I told him that his little friend was taking a nap(I had NO idea what to do). But later, after James buried her in the back yard, we told him that she didn't live with us anymore. That she had died and went to live with Heavenly Father. I don't know how much he understood, but his round eyes got as big as could be. My heart nearly broke for our little guy and for his trusty chick. However, the next minute he was peering out our back window and spotted a jay bird and insisted that it was his Oangy and seemed okay with things when the blue bird flew away.

I am left with two questions:
1) Where in the world did he come up with that?
and
2) Why did I give Gunner to James instead of to Mason? That dog is the bane of my existence!
(Just joking....Sort of.)