“Fishie” the Goldfish

Fishie in his new home.

When Samantha was born in May of 2007, we had two cats.  One, Ducky, left home never to return three days after we came home from the hospital with Sam.  The other, Scout, left home never to return again three months after that.  We figured that Ducky was just too freaked out by the baby to stick around, and that Scout was just plain old so she went off to find her final resting place.  So, we have remained pet less until now…

Samantha has always been interested in animals…in books, on TV, or in person.  I have noticed that she is especially interested in fish.  I don’t know why…she has just always pointed out the fish she sees.  I recently took her to our local pet store as a little field trip and she ran around to all the different fish tanks exclaiming, “bish!”  (She only recently started pronouncing the “f.”)  While we were there, I glanced through their collection of small fish tanks and made some mental notes.

On a recent trip to Wal-Mart, Samantha asked to go look at the fish as soon as we entered the store.  We weren’t in a hurry, so I said sure.  As she was checking out the bish, I glanced at the fish tanks for sale .  My eye caught a cute 1-gallon tank, that I quickly noticed was $9.99.  I picked it up immediately and checked it out.  After unsuccessfully finding someone knowlegable about fish there, I purchased the tank and went to the pet store the next day with Matt and Sam.  While Sam showed Daddy around the fish tanks, I spoke to a girl there about fish related things.  In the past, I have had a beta fish in a bowl, but I’ve never been in charge of a tank with an air pump before.  We ended up deciding to buy a goldfish the next day, once we got the water in the tank treated and got it all ready.  On the way home, Samantha finally said, “fish,” instead of, “bish.”  Since then, she has made a big deal of pronouncing the “f.”

So the next day I took Samantha to the pet store and we chose a goldfish.  Once we got it home, we couldn’t put it in the tank right away because we had to get it accustomed to the temperature of the water and things like that.  As it turned out, Matt got home just in time for the fish to go into the tank.  Samantha was very excited when the little guy was finally in his new home (I don’t know if it’s a girl or guy fish, but we already have two females in the house, so I wanted to balance things out).

Fishie

We wanted Samantha to name the fish (or at least attempt to).  We quickly realized that she doesn’t quite understand the concept of naming things.  She just kept calling it “fish.”  The next day she called it, “fishie,” a couple of times, so we decided that’s what its name should be.  It’s easy for her to say and it makes sense to her.

So there you have it…Samantha’s first pet (that she remembers, anyway)!

Related items

• How to make a rainbow cake
• A day in the life of my 2-year old: In pictures
• “Do it, do it, DO IT!”
• Is it safe to eat deli meats and hot dogs during pregnancy?
• Big girl!!