Guess What's in Our House?

Dear Sonia,

Yesterday morning, you called me and your mom said "Guess what's in our house?" And I said, "Sonia-ita! What?" and you said "Auntie Karen, Auntie Karen, Guess what's in our house?" You said this at the top of your lungs and with much breathlessness. It was super super cute! I said, "What? What is in your house?" and you said "A GECKO!"

I asked where it was and you said "IN THE HALLWAY TO THE BATHROOM!" again at the top of your lungs. You were very excited. Mommy reported that the poor gecko was currently under a plastic container and that she would have to get it out of the house. It was about 5 inches long and green. You, while excited about the idea of a gecko in the house, were being carried around everywhere because you were afraid of it. Mommy said, "Why don't you have to be afraid of the gecko?" and you said "I don't know" even though you did. I said, and Mommy chimed in "Because it is more afraid of you than you are of it." The poor little gecko. When asked how you thought the gecko got in, you said "We must have left the door open!" which is a good theory but entirely impossible with your diligent, germ-and-bug-phobe parents around. My guess is he came in through a vent or a pipe or something. But we didn't tell you that. That would've been more than you needed to know!

By this point, you'd gone downstairs, but you insisted that you needed to go back up and tell me about the gecko again. So you did. And you did. And then I had to go because I had arrived at work.

A short time later, a text came from your mom that said "Sonia upstairs playing piano for the gecko." Very funny. And a little later, another text that the gecko was outside again and that you weren't sad to see it go.

When I lived in Thailand, I had geckos everywhere. A huge one lived in my bathroom, little ones inside the mosquito net with me. I loved them. They would never run on you - they were truly afraid - and even if they did, they weren't slimy and they didn't bite. And they were the best little insect vacuums ever. They ate spiders and mosquitos and all kinds of other hideous little pests. Geckos are our friends. I'm jealous that you had one in your house!

Okay, that's the story of the week.

Love you!

Auntie K