Close Encounters with "R.U.S."

Okay, I know I blogged last night and it is very unusual for me to do this again so soon, but have I got a story for you all.

First of all let me give you the parameters of our home ... small ... very small. Samuel's room is the size of a small walk-in closet (remember that info) and is right next to our room. There isn't a whole lot of room in the rest of the house either. (not that I'm complaining, but it is important for the story)

Last night I finished my blogging around midnight and went to bed. Andreas had already been asleep for a little while. At 12:45 I hear Samuel come out of his room to tell us he had to go to the bathroom. Like a good mommy I got up to make sure that he made it to the toilet. Like a tired mommy I then directed him back to his room and up into bed (he has a loft bed, or as he puts it he, "sleeps in the sky"). I turned on his music, told him he had to sleep and closed his door. I didn't hear any crying so all was well. I went back to bed.

Around 15 minutes later I hear his little voice cry, "Mommy, MOmmy, MOMmy, MOMMY!!!" This was followed by a small squeal. By the time of the squeal I had just opened his door in time to see something on his bed hopping away from him. I squeal (Andreas is right behind me by this time) and rip the tent off that covers most of his bed, thus allowing me to get to him. It is obvious by his grip and his frightened little voice that he had seen something also.

Then came the questions. Samuel explains in his little, very excited voice that something was on his leg and in his bed. He told us it was a frog and it hopped, which corresponded to the black little figure I had seen. So we put Samuel in our bed and go into his room (remember the info from above about his room). We are only armed with a flashlight and questions of how a frog could have gotten in Samuel's room at all. Andreas looks through the bedding, and the stuffed animals and finds nothing. So he then gets down on his knees and looks unders Samuels bookshelf. He comes up very quickly with dread in his voice (insert scarry music in the background), "it's not a frog... it's a mouse!" (insert music of dread). That brings us to the name of this post "R.U.S." (Rodents of Unusual Size) For anyone who has seen "The Princess Bride" you will understand. For those who haven't... rent it, it's funny.

Yes, you read that correctly, a mouse was ON Samuel IN his bed. That is even worse than having the roaches in our bed in Jackson, Mississippi. So now armed with a plastic bucket, a poker (which was the handle of a swiffer) and a towel, Andreas and I are trying to outsmart a mouse at 1:15 in the morning. Samuel is giving us a running commetary from our bedroom. He still thinks it was a frog that wanted to sleep with him and is in no uncertain terms telling us to be careful with the frog. He is also starting to tell us that there is a "frog" in the kitchen, but he keeps changing his story so we are unsure of what exactly he is talking about. I am sure if we were not filled with the dreadful thought that a mouse was on our son, the whole scene would have been quite funny (Darcy, I need you to tell this story).

So the plan is to trap the mouse and get it outside (the thought of squishing it was too gross for that moment). Needless to say we were outsmarted at every turn and there are a lot of things to hide under in Samuels room. There was one point when the mouse ran directly at me and I paniced, screamed, and did everything I could to get my barefeet on top of some furniture - injuring myself along the way. If you get the chance to speak with Samuel he will gladly re-enact my scream for you.

After my scream Samuel started to become alarmed, so I went into my room to comfort him and let him know why I screamed. I calmed him, turned on a nightlight, and closed my door. I was knocking on Samuel's door to see if Andreas needed me to come in and help, when I saw the second "frog". So now to recap... we have one mouse in Samuel's room and another in the kitchen/family room area.

Andreas is getting frustrated because he can't find the mouse in Samuel's room and comes out to help me catch the mouse in the family room. (we closed Samuel's door as to not let two mice into the family room). The mouse in the family room is not nearly as bright or as fast as his brother, but we are getting more savy and after a few laps around the family room Andreas accidently squishes him in-between some trim work we have yet to fix. I am sure this was a funny site also. I am on top of the sofa with a broom, Andreas has put his big rubber boots on and is holding the trim piece with his foot and screaming for me not to look! Andreas is getting a little queezy as the mouse riggles a squeeks his last. It is now 2:00 in the morning. One down... one to go!

Andreas re-enters Samuel's room and I go to Samuel to let him know that everything is okay (at least I hadn't screamed in a while). Samuel is still giving his running commentary, but by now he knows it is a mouse.

I knock on Samuel's door only to hear, "Oh gross!" from Andreas. I then had to find something to clean up two dead mice in (apparently the swiffer handle made a really good poker). I am thankful that Andreas did the nasty deed of death and clean up. All I had to do was put one little mat outside. This mat was handed to me with the comment, "we probably need to throw this one out." Blahhhhhh!

Andreas explained to Samuel that we were going to put the mice outside so they could go home to find their parents. We didn't feel the need to tell him that they were dead. Samuel then went on to recap the night for us (including my scream) and then comment on the apparrel or lack-there-of that we chose to catch mice in. If you ever need fashion advice for your rodent encounters please let Samuel know, apparently our pj's were not good enough.

It was 2:30 in the morning, I bandanged my wound, we were tired, and Samuel was NOT going to be put back in his bed (he was still a little scared). So we all tried sleeping in our bed. Of course sleeping with Samuel is like sleeping with a Rhino, and he wasn't tired at all. Eventually we all fell asleep. Poor Andreas had to get up and go to work this morning and I am home with Samuel, who continually is replaying what happened last night. At least in the morning light I am able to laugh at the whole thing.

We will be replacing all trim pieces today and making sure that there are no little holes for R.U.S's to come into the house through. In the Godfather movies they had the term "sleeping with the fishes", we will now coin the term, "sleeping with the mice". For all of your rodent extermination needs you can now contact us at 1-800-SCREAM. Hope you got a laugh out the story.

Love,
Laurie