Evan and the Chipmunks

We have a pet chipmunk, sort of. His name is Chippy and he lives in a hole in our front yard. Evan first met Chippy last summer at Gramma Bonnie's house. He and Gramma were having a sleepover and while he was helping her fill her bird feeders and put water in the birdbath they realized they were being watched by a little chipmunk. Evan quickly grabbed a butterfly net and they attempted to catch the chipmunk. After that, anytime we were at Gramma's house Evan would want to try to catch "Chippy" - the name they gave to him.

Evan was always so genuinely disappointed when he could not find Chippy or especially if he could find him but was unable to catch him. I tried to explain to him that unless Chippy had one foot in the grave or unless he was Bear Grylls (who could not only catch him with his bare hands but would be fed for a week off of his meat and would fashion a shelter from his pelt) Chippy would be too fast to catch.

Now Chippy lives in our yard - because in the boys' minds apparently there is only one chipmunk in the world. They have come to the conclusion that Chippy's hole tunnels from our yard to Gramma's yard - he spends his time between our two houses.

Chippy is getting quite brave. He will scamper into his hole even while we are playing in the yard. The other day he came within a few feet of Evan's feet. When the boys are eating snacks outside they will usually put a few into Chippy's hole. I don't know how he feels about pretzels and Teddy grahams, but I imagine he is pretty stoked. Last week when we had the hose out to wash the outside toys, I caught Evan with the hose shoved into the hole filling it with water. I was a little scared that might be the end of Chippy but since the little tsunami he has been back around. His hole stayed intact. Daddy keeps telling Evan that he has some special treats for Chippy that will help him get a good night sleep (Daddy is angry with Chippy and his relatives for messing with his sprinkler box). I have told him that he better just leave him alone - we have had too much fun watching him. So far he has spared the little guys life - if he keeps getting into his stuff though - Chippy better run through that tunnel to Gramma's and stay there!