Pablo is supposed to be a turtle.
When Evie's turtle infatuation was at its peak, we visited a local pet store. As luck would have it, among the fish and birds and hamsters we saw that day, they had a tortoise. A girl who worked there brought it out, and Evie had a lot of fun playing with him. She touched it and just shrieked with happiness. I told the girl we would take him, and then remembered to ask how much he was.
PetSmart Girl: Ninety-nine.
Me: Dollars?
PetSmart Girl: Yes, ninety-nine dollars.
Me: Really? For a turtle?
PetSmart Girl: It's a tortoise. And they live for fifty years.
I had to pass. Seriously, ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS for a TURTLE? Can't you catch those things on the trail by our house? Plus I started thinking I don't want a pet I had to commit to for half a century.
We left without the turtle, but I was busy thinking of a replacement. Evie likes fish, too. (Although not as much as she like turtles.) She likes to swim like a fish and give fish-kisses. And fish are only a couple bucks, so we headed back to the pet store today.
We bought a little red beta and I set up his fish bowl while Evie was napping. I showed her the fish when she woke up, and she was so excited! We named him Pablo and when Chris came home she kept shouting "Pablo!" At dinnertime, she kept yelling his name and gesturing for him to come to the table. That is one trend I am not about to start, but after we finished eating, I let her feed the fish. She dropped in the teeny tiny pellet and Pablo swam to the top and gobbled it up. She kept yelling "Eat!"
A funny thing is she doesn't understand why Pablo can't come out of the bowl. Evie really wanted him to come outside this evening. It took a long time to convince her he had to stay inside. She also wanted him "Out!" of the bowl when she was going to take a bath.
Someone help me. How do I explain this to a one year old?
In the meantime, I guess my new mission is just to keep him in the bowl!
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4 comments:
Does Evie watch Sesame Street? I'm not an Elmo fan, but he does have his fish Dorothy. Evie might be able to connect with the whole fish in a jar concept by watching Elmo.
PS) I think turtles are different than tortoises. But I'm with you. I would just go out and find a turtle. But you'd have to find a nice place for it, like an aquarium. I knew people in HS that kept their turtles in the bathtub. Now that was strange. LOL! Good luck!
I would suggest a hermit crab because; 1) it's your house, and 2) I'm sure that you saw Jon and Kate.
Even if a tortoise was to live 50 years, that is a lot of coin. Dogs don't even have that kind of commitment.
I meant to say in my comment that I would suggest a hermit crab BUT I am sure you saw Jon and Kate and their trials with "Marge."
I also thought of you today-I saw one of my former students and he was telling me how he had the turtle one of the other teachers had. This was two years ago!
why pablo? i like it! but i was just wondering... ps. i heard these are fighting fish. if you put a mirror up to it, it will attack the mirror or something. try it! haha.
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