The Pet Bunny Named Tree

I remember one Easter when I was fairly young my sister and I each received a white pet bunny.  We were ecstatic and thought it was the best Easter present ever.  However, I remember them being wriggly and scratching us and not being very cuddly.  I also soon understood the phrase "breeding like rabbits".  Magically the two "male" bunnies that my dad got us quickly turned in to about a dozen!

Fast forward 20 plus years and my dad has now built a rabbit hutch for my two boys.  It was a process, Papa built it, grand pop painted it, uncle delivered it and daddy took them to pick out their bunny.  They were excited little boys as we put our shoes on to go get a bunny.  We debated getting two bunnies, because our pen was big enough, but I had already learned that with bunnies 1+1=12 or so.

As we followed the lady back the path to where she kept the bunnies she told my 3 year old that she has one as big as him.  She was not kidding!  I have never seen such a gigantic bunny in my life, she said it weighed 20 pounds.  As we talked rabbits with her we decided on a chinchilla (grey) dwarf.  And she said she thought it was a male but couldn't tell for sure, she admitted they all look like males until they are older.

The bunny is adorable and surprisingly cuddly and mellow. It even allows my 16 month old to "pet" it (which is more akin to hitting).  It has a grey salt and pepper look to it, so I thought pepper would be a cute name.  I suggested this to my 3 year old, but he has become very insistent upon naming the bunny Tree.  We tried other suggestions like smoke.  But he keeps insisting upon Tree.  Where did he come up with Tree?  We tried explaining that tree is not a name.  But then again there are children with names like prairie, rain, sierra and just about anything you can imagine.  Maybe I should let him name his bunny Tree so someday I don't have a grandchild named Tree!  And really what makes pepper and smoke any more reasonable of a name for a bunny than Tree other than the fact that we have heard those names before.  Well, I have not consented to Tree just yet, I thought I will let him sleep on it and see what the morning brings.

But I think I could live with the name Tree for the newest member of our family.  And who am I to stop the imaginative mind of a 3 year old and their desire to give their bunny a rather silly name.  Although as I was putting him to bed I asked him one more time what we should name the bunny, he said "mommy" repeatedly while giggling.  So I guess it's either Tree or Mommy!