Chi Chi Alla Gets a New 'Do

Last week when Rebecca came over, it was business as usual:

She read aloud what she'd written in her communication journal, and I wrote a note to her as well.

We reviewed her poetry journal.

We were about to move on to the next thing when we were distracted by the squeaky sounds of Chi Chi Alla.  I don't know how much quality time you've spent with a guinea pig in the past, but when happy or hungry, they make this adorable sound that none of the members of my family have been able to put our fingers on.  "It kinda sounds like a horn," my son has said.  "Nah, it's not a horn," my husband offered, "more like a squeaky mattress."  "Uh uh," a visiting friend has suggested, "it's like one of those squeeze toys for animals."  I think the latter is probably the closest.  Anyway, he was noisy...and hungry, so Rebecca fed him.

"I've got it!" I exclaimed.  "We should write a poem about Chi Chi Alla!"  Rebecca turned up her nose and said, "I don't really want to."

"That's alright!" I replied.  "I'll do it myself!" I began...

"Chi Chi Alla is a great guinea pig...he went to a show and wore a red wig!"

Rebecca giggled, then immediately offered, "He had lots of fun....and ate lots of junk..."

I interjected, "then he got a haircut...and looked like a..."

"SKUNK!" she screamed.

I grinned.  "Thought ya said you didn't wanna write a poem."  She smiled and pulled out her paper to write down the great poem we'd just co-authored.

We made some corrections

 "Can we publish it?" she asked.  "Of course!" I replied.

And you know a poem this good needs illustrations...

She added it to her poetry journal, and we both added it to our list of all-time favorite poems.