Unusual pet for an unusual family

Ok.....we took the plunge and bought a new critter for Tornado Boy. I have spent most of my life being surrounded by warm purries and I lost my last cat, Pookie, of 18 years last year. My little guy loved Pookie and it was a very hard loss. It's hard to believe that a warm purry was by my side for 18 years and I miss her dearly. The sad thing is that little boy is allergic to dogs and cats. Due to Pookie's Diabetes, daily shots, and her age we could not bare to place her in another home when we found out he was allergic. So when she passed we have been having animal withdrawal because we can't get most "normal" animals. After much research, we came to the conclusion that "pin cushions" were safe allergy-wise for tornado boy and we took the plunge yesterday. He went and picked out the one he wanted and gleefully took him home. Our new Hedgehog is properly named "Perry the Platypus Hedgie" after the silly platypus on Phineas and Ferb. He is SO cute and NOT so cuddly but he has a great temperament. He lay sleeping in a shirt on Tornado boy in bed last night while he got his stories read and little boy looked up and so earnestly asked, "can he snuggle with me all night long". Um....no.....I don't think you would like to roll over onto a pin cushion in the middle of the night and I don't think Perry would appreciate it!
So it is a perfect fit....a very unusual pet for a very unusual family!