Oh, Rats!

Only could our sweet (and downright silly) COSI friends come up with such a silly memorial (which Christi would TOTALLY LOVE). Yes, they did it; they named their two newest basketball playing rats - CT & Shay! Shayla can't wait to get to COSI in Columbus to see them in action. Here's a brief scoop from Harriet regarding the rats and their training thus far:

I just wanted to let you know that our new pair of rats now hold the names CT and Shay. After watching the pair for a while, I decided who should have which name. One of them, while being fed by a handler, jumped out the side of the cage and went to explore the neighboring cages. That one shall be called Shay. The other one, while noticing her sister sitting inside her bowl shaped plastic house, figured out how to tip the house upside down. The other toppled over, bedding scraps falling on her head. The tipper of houses shall be called CT. Their names have been placed on the list when their retirement comes to the "Harriet's Luxury Retirement Resort and Spa," where they will spend the rest of their days in the lap of luxury, and the lap of Harriet.

C.T. and Shay - a later update:
So far, C.T. has proven to be the smartest rat we've ever had, with Shay running a close second. Just to give you an idea of what I'm basing this on, there are 18 basic steps that the rats go through in their training, each one taking about a week and a half to master, depending on the rat. The first step being recognizing the buzzer, followed by introducing the ball, touching the ball with her nose, picking up the ball, pulling the ball from the trainer's had, and carrying the ball to the treat hole. C.T. and Shay have been training for 10 days, and-completely on her own-C.T. skipped to step 6! SIX! This has never happened before. We've even recently taken out step 6 because most rats just don't get it. It's too hard for them to carry the ball at that stage of the training. On the very first day I put the ball in the court-with both of them-they both immediately picked up the ball and started carrying it around. Shay has since given that up and is now only touching the ball with her nose, but C.T. consistently picks up the ball and carries it to the treat hole.

Just to give you a reference, it usually takes about 2 months for the rats to get to this point, and that's only for the rats that are able to grasp that step. I have seriously never seen this before. It's gotta be the names, or someone watching over her, whispering in her ear. :)

I just thought you should know how amazing these rats are. I can't wait until they retire and come to the Harriet Finkernell Luxury Retirement Resort and Spa. I'm going to have to invest in some genius rat enrichment toys, maybe a few volumes of Shakespeare, perhaps a college caluculus textbook.

Lots of love,
Traci
Head Researcher and Rat Admirer
Institute for Higher Learning and Playing
(March 2003) Hospitalized in NYC: Jenn & Traci drive to New York bringing great joy to Christi (and all of us).
Christi with amazing friends: "Eliabeth" (Jenn) and "Harriet" (Traci) at a fantastic Science Center in Philly (March 2006) (Yes, they drove all the way to Philadelphia for Christi too! What Angels!)
Back in their home turf: Columbus Ohio (Children's Hospital) November 2002.

"Oldie But Goodie" (No pun intended, Joan- hee hee!) Ten month old Christi with Grandma Nee Nee (Yes, Christi named her that!) Photo: Winter 1998. My deepest thanks to Grandma Nee Nee as she's taking Shayla to Toledo for me today for her vision therapy and also to be tested for dyslexia - but that's another story. Although we miss Christi terribly, we are very thankful that we are now having time to get Shayla the care she's needed for years. Saying childhood cancer touches the entire family is an understatement! When I told a Speech Therapist last week, "We've neglected Shayla for years because of taking care of Christi," she laughed and said, "I wish all parents would neglect their kids like you have; what a wonderful world it would be," that made me feel better. Shayla has the best personality and attitude; I'm so proud of her!