There were 3 in the Bed

Animals.. I feel are a crucial part of any child's upbringing.  They learn to care, nurture, respect and to feel unconditional love from something that can not tell them in words. There is an unspoken language between them that is almost magical.  We are lucky to have this within the nest of our home.

Wallaby's, possums, echidnas, platypus, eagles and owls just to name a few, mingled with cats, dogs, horses and guinea pigs when I was a child.  It was nothing out of the ordinary to come home and find a platypus in the bath, a possum snuggled into a warm body while having a bottle of life giving milk or an eagle being tended due to some unforeseen accident.  It was normal for us to get up during the night to tend to some baby that needed a feed or for me to pack that little life into my school bag to take care of during the day.  How lucky was I  to have this experience...words can not describe it.
This is something that I wanted to give my boys.

So we began.  Two little Ringtail Possums: Fifi and Fuzz.  So soft that one could hardly feel their fur. Snuggled together in an old woolly hat until the boys decided to play with them.  Watching these little creatures delight in running all over the boys bodies as they all squealed in delight. Being covered in little scratches from their sharp nails and being proud of who has the most. The four of them curled up under blankets snug in the warmth of contentment. The pain of having to say goodbye when our job was done and it was time for Fifi and Fuzz to experience the big wide world.  But it was rewarding and we all took something away from this chapter to enrich ourselves.
We have had other possums too and have enjoyed their company until they were old enough to venture out...but then came LILLY.

Lilly : 2 kilogrammes of solid muscle. A ball of mystery and unknown territory. A WOMBAT.
I knew nothing really about wombats.  Had never raised a wombat and the only experience I had as a child was one called MUDDLES that came to live with us after its carers could not cope any more. 
A wombat who chewed through the shed door.  A wombat who loved to travel in the car on the drivers feet.  A wombat who would follow us everywhere. A wombat that eventually went to live at a wildlife park and spent its days destroying their place. But Lilly was and is different.

Love at first sight it was for me.  Timid and needing a mothers warmth, she had me hooked. At about 5 months of age she still had another 4 or so kilos to put on before she would have even ventured out of her mothers pouch.  So I became mum and the boys her siblings.

The trust she developed so rapidly surprised me.  Her desire to be part of the family intrigued me.  Her appetite for her bottle of marsupial milk while curled in my arms melted me.  She would only feed if I was holding her, and that made her even more special (selfish I know !!)

Many a night I would go into the boys room wondering where Lilly was only to find her lying on her back, snoring and snuggled into the warmth of a child.  I would gently extract her and take her into my arms to have my turn of wombat love.

As Lilly grew her appetite did too.  Sweet potato, rolled oats amongst her favourite.  She would follow me around the kitchen trying to lie on my feet when I stopped moving.  She taught herself to go up and down our internal stairs..and for those that have seen these stairs you would know they are not wombat friendly!.  Her friendship with our dog was as best friends.  Couldn't find the wombat??..find the dog.  Partners in crime.

Everyone delighted in telling us the horror stories of raising a wombat..'The Bulldozer of the Bush'.  "She will rip your house apart..she will chew through your doors.."  What had we let our selves in for!!!!.  We will only keep her for a few  months I said..only a few.

Well 14 months later Lilly is still part of the family.  She lives under our house in her 'burrow'.  She comes in at night to say hello and to have her sweet potato fix.  She no longer goes to bed with the boys although given the opportunity I am sure she would..but alas she is now rather dirty and smelly and weighs 16 kilogrammes and still has another 8 or so kilos to go.  A big lump to move.

I could not have asked for a better outcome for her.  She has really released herself into our large bush garden.  She has the best of both worlds... so do we..

I am sure one day she may venture off and not return.  Might even meet a male and have a youngster!!  But LILLY has enriched our lives in a way that I never thought possible.  She has bought joy and tears and plenty of laughs.  For those of you who have read the child's book which describes living with a wombat..yep..that is how it most definitely is..and I would not swap it for anything !!!

Once you have had a wombat..it will always be a wombat that you hope will come next in need of a mother..  I think I just might now go and call her for a dose of  WOMBAT love...priceless ..

              Cheers  Dilly x