My son the stud

Brant was out of town all day today.

Of course.

The morning went uneventfully enough until after lunch when I went to put Ezra in his bed. The poor kid got about two feet from his bed and me two feet from the door, when a baby rat zoomed into his room, running right between us. I screamed. Ezra screamed - more afraid of me, than the rat, I'm sure.

Then I screamed again.

And again.

Sorry. I don't do rats.

I yelled at Elijah to run get my phone, bug spray, and broom. I yelled at Caleb to get up on his bed. I yelled at Ezra to get up in his bed.

Elijah ran and brought me my phone and I frantically tried to call Brant (took 3 times and a "pick up the phone dang it!" text before he answered!) while spraying the rat with everything I could. By this time it was in Caleb's room (their doors are right next to each other), which calmed Ezra down a bit and Elijah was back with the broom. Elijah ran and got us both tennis shoes and then we both went into attack mode.... well, not quite. I went into "crying on the phone and begging Brant to come home mode" Sorry, I'm kinda a wimp. You do NOT have to be brave to be a missionary, as I can strongly attest to!!!! :)

So Brant's suggestion was to get the rat back into Ezra's room and close the door, getting Ezra out of the room. So I ran and grabbed Ezra and stuck him on Caleb's bed and the two of them hugged each other and were brave. :) I couldn't bare the thought of leaving the rat in Ezra's room (and what if we couldn't find it later!!!) So anyways, I managed to keep it contained in a small space by spraying it and Elijah went into full attack mode - whacking the life out of the thing for all it was worth. He followed the rat around the room, whacking, moving furniture, whacking some more. In the end, he caught it under the broom, and then stepped on the broom... that was the end of the rat.

I called Brant back with the story, and his first response was "Elijah is a stud." His next instruction was to take pictures. :) Then, we were supposed to sweep the thing up into the dust pan and take it to the burn pit where we burn our trash. I opted for closing the door on the dead rat and letting Brant deal with it when he got home. :) But Elijah, as mature and brave as an almost-7-year-old could possibly be, grabbed the dust pan, swept the thing up and then had it outside before I could blink.

I was so proud of him.

Later, he said "Mom, this is the best day ever. It's like I got to go hunting!"

Elijah, with his kill....


Me.... freaked out.... :)


The two brave buddies on Caleb's bed... I was so proud they obeyed and stayed put and were brave. :)



Did I mention I don't do rats???