Neeeeeeeeeeeemo!

Last weekend we had a garage sale to get rid of some of our excess stuff. During the sale, Violet had a lemonade stand and declared that with her earnings she would buy a FISH TANK because she always wanted fish.

So with her $3.25 she made selling lemonade, we went down to the fish store to look at tanks and such. Of course she wanted the pretty Nemo fish. The salesman explained why that would not be possible in the little 5 gallon acrylic tank we were looking at. Instead we browsed the freshwater fish and she found several that she liked, including Neon Tetras, Platys, and even these cute little frogs.

We started pricing the tanks and equipment and at the pet store it would have been $80 for a five-gallon setup. (and Violet thought she could get a fish for $3.25!!) While we were writing all the info down, a couple of young boys (who says they are all hoodlums?) suggested we check out the tank sets at Wal-Mart across the street. We headed over there and LO & BEHOLD the exact same setup we saw at the first store was there for $50. And there was a sale on a 10 gallon tank set - all we had to buy in addition was the rocks - and THAT was $45! We decided that the 10 gallon tank would be the best bet, so on Monday we got the tank. Violet could not understand why she couldn't get the fish too, but I explained to her we had to wait 24 hours for the tank to properly filter.

Have I mentioned that the *entire* time we were in any fish section at the store, Riley simply said OVER AND OVER, "Mama! Memo! Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemo! Mama!! MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO!!!" as he pointed and jumped up and down and ran around the fish tanks. The whole way home, he kept telling Violet, "Vay-lah!! MEEEEMO! MEMO MEMO! Meeeeeeeeemo! Vay-lah! MEEEEEEMO!"

The tank was set up in Violet's room, and after a lengthy discussion with her regarding how the filters work and when to feed the fish, she was prepared to wait until the next day to get them.

Tuesday morning, 6 a.m. Violet runs up to the side of my bed and shakes me violently. "MOM! MOM! MOM!! We can get our FISH today! Let's GO!" I opened my eyes to find her fully dressed, including an attempt at hairstyle. It was precious! I groggily told her we would have to wait till after lunch to get the fish, since we set up the tank Monday afternoon. Violet declared that she would make me a surprise breakfast for being such a good mommy. It took a few minutes for *that* to register in my sleepy brain, but once it did, I was AWAKE. She called me downstairs to the table, where she presented to me a bowl of dry Frosted Flakes topped with banana pieces (broken apart by hand since she's not allowed to use a knife) and several spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt. It was..... so sweet of her. And actually, not half bad.

From about 10 a.m. on, every 5 minutes I was asked, "Is it lunchtime yet, Mommy? Can we have lunch now, Mommy?" until noon when I fed the kids. Then it was into the car to get the fishies. Violet acted like SUCH a big girl. She chose two neon tetras dubbed Silly and Pilly, another, larger white Tetra she named Cinderella, and two orange platys she called Nemo and Riley.

The excitement was building - we had to acclimate the fish to the tank temperature, which took 15 minutes, and then Nemo, Riley, Silly, Pilly, and Cinderella were introduced to their new home. They seemed to like it... and Violet was transfixed. She sat in front of the tank for at least an hour. Poor Riles fell asleep in the car and missed the excitement for the time being.

Later that afternoon I checked on the tank. The fish were swimming around happily. In front of the tank were several pieces of scrap paper with various letters written in 4 year old hand, a photo of our family, and a mirror. I asked Violet what all that was for. The letters were the fishies' names so they wouldn't forget. The mirror was so they could look at themselves and see how pretty they were, and the photo was so the fishies would recognize us when we looked into the tank. Gotta love the mind of a 4 year old!

When Riley woke up from his nap, Violet introduced him to the new fish. He was in LOVE and stayed in front of the tank, calling "MEEEEEMO" for a whole ten minutes!! This new little adventure into tankhood should be fun.

Wa-hoo-wa-heee-ho-ho-ho-ho
Wa-hoo-wa-heee-ho-ho-ho-ho