Since Elmo's bestfriend is a goldfish named Dorothy - guess what we got as thank you gifts?!?!?! Goldfish! yup!! How cool is that?!?! The fish were nicely arranged on the table, swimming freely, as we put on our coats, gathered our belongings and started saying goodbye. When Khyri saw that Auntie had a fish he asked for one. As soon as Auntie said "you get when we you leave" Khyri bolted to the table to grab himself a goldfish. I guess he figured "I'm standing here in my coat and we're near the door, so I should get me a fish". There was a slight panic in the room as we all envisioned goldfish flopping on the floor gasping for air, but luckily Auntie still has some spring in her step and she got to the table before disaster took hold. The Hubs helped Khyri pick out a fish and we scooped one up for Kielle too. We loaded up two goldfish complete with bowl and food into the Cam and headed back home.
When we got in, we placed the two goldfish on the fireplace. The munchkins were worn out so they didn't really notice the fish or play with them. Later that night I told the Hubs he could have the pleasure of naming the fish. Clearly because this was a task beneath him, he just hollered out Chauncey and Gregor. Really?!!? Those are the names you choose? Chauncey and Gregor? See this is why I do most of the imaginative, funky, 'kidesque' stuff alone.Arrrggghh. Anyway, the fish had names. Gregor had black spots and Chauncey had no spots. In their two bowls above the fireplace they settled in for the night.
We didn't get any instructions on how to take care of the fish, so we just kinda winged it the first couple of days. I was a little concerned with Gregor on Day 2 because when I finally remembered to feed him *eeeks* he didn't have any hustle to go get the food. He was really laid back waiting for the food to settle down to him. I texted my friends that I didn't think Gregor was gonna make it.
To my surprise though he was alive and swimming the next day so all was good. The next few days I let the little people feed the fish. Khyri is a little heavy handed with the food; Kielle just likes to tip over the bowl. One afternoon sat down at the dining room table to clean out the fishbowls.
Now before I go any further I need to pour a little aquarium water out for our lost fish homie EJ, who didn't even make it to Monday. Auntie was quite distressed when her beloved EJ didn't survive his first bowl cleaning. As I prepared to clean out Gregor and Chauncey's bowls, I thought of EJ and also headed the warnings of not using tap water to fill the bowl. Bwuahahahaha.
Ok so we pulled together our tools: 2 bottles of Dasani spring water, 1 serving spoon, and 1 glass bowl. Before we got started I let the munchkins play a little with the fish at their level on the table. Khyri was really intrigued and kept calling the fish Dorothy. Gregor was Dorothy and Chauncey was Another Dorothy hahahahha Like that was his full name - Another Dorothy.
I kept repeating their real names Gregor and Chauncey but he wasn't hearing any of that. In typical Kielle fashion, the bowls were tipped over and some water spillage resulted.
Realizing that cleaning out the bowls would not be easy with Kielle in the room, we put her down for a nap and Khyri and I continued with the task at hand. I held Khyri's hand as he used the serving spoon to take Gregor out of his dirty bowl. That didn't last long. Poor Gregor was swishing and swashing all over the bowl; Khyri was jabbing him with the spoon; It was chaos. I realized I needed to make an executive decision and handle the bowl transfers myself.
I quickly transferred Gregor and Chauncey into the new clean bowl together. Then Khyri and I carried the dirty bowls into the bathroom. Khyri stepped on to the stepstool and after 5 long minutes of 'washing his hands' we finally moved on to rinsing out the bowls. I used warm water and then capped off the rinsing with a spring water swoosh.
When both bowls were clean we headed back to the table and I put Gregor and Chauncey back into their separate bowls. Khyri played with the fish for awhile and then... what's this??! is Chauncey tipping?!?! Oh lord?? Is he on his SIDE!?!?
Khyri go play with your puzzles.
In the words of Florida Evans from Goodtimes "damn, Damn, DAMN!" Chauncey didn't make it. He hadn't floated to the top yet so I held on to some hope that maybe he was just getting used to the new water. I poked him a little - no response. I even put him back on the fireplace thinking maybe he needed his familiar scenery - no response.
Nope. Chauncey had gone on to glory. It was Friday. *sigh* We had only known the true friendship of Chauncey for 6 days. I left Chauncey out so the Hubs could say his proper goodbye when he returned home from work. That night, Chauncey went down the toilet. He was finally free from his bowl. We miss you Chauncey.
I fed Gregor over the weekend. We kept Chauncey's empty bowl on the fireplace as a memorial. The munchkins didn't even notice he was missing... until Monday. I lifted Khyri up to feed Gregor (who he still calls Dorothy) and after he finished he said "And now the other fish". "Uhhhhhhh no Khyri Chauncey is gone, let's just focus on Gregor". I removed the bowl last night. We are now officially a one fish household.
*sigh* RIP Chauncey.
