Monday, November 22, 2010

Nemo is Dead

Emma's goldfish, Nemo, died on Wednesday. I knew it was only a matter of time. After all, it's a goldfish.

And...well, we've been neglectful fish owners since having Hyrum. Poor fish only got fed every couple of days and...um...we didn't clean the tank at all since we got him. Like, 6 months ago.

So it's kind of our fault. We'll probably have an army of deceased goldfish come after us when we die.

It wasn't unexpected. I periodically check the tank for movement. Usually a couple of times a day. Just to make sure I don't have to do a fishy funeral that day.

But on Wednesday, I did.

I did my usual glance for movement...and saw nothing. It was early in the morning and Emma was still sleeping. I didn't want to deal with it yet, so...I left the fish where it was. I called John and left him a message about it.

And then, in my clean-for-tomorrow's-birthday-party frenzy, I forgot about it.

Until Emma saw her fish. Her dead fish, upside down in the tank.

I heard her say, "Nemo is...Nemo is..." And she didn't know how to describe it. Poor girl. All the other times we've lost goldfish, we quickly flushed it before she knew. She never saw them floating upside down like this.

I had to do a little more explaining this time. Last time, she noticed the fish was gone, but I think we'd already flushed it by that point. I explained that her fish went to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus, got a new one, and that was that.

This time, however, she saw the dead fish.

And I had to explain death to my almost 3 year old. At least a little bit, in terms a 3 year old can understand. I told her he died and went to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus.

She took it amazingly well. She didn't cry, she didn't get upset, or anything. She really seemed to understand.

Granted, you can't get as attached to a goldfish as you can to say, a dog or a cat. Or a person. But still, she took it way better than I anticipated.

She said, "Nemo's all gone. It means he's dead. He needs his mommy and his daddy and his brother. The boy one is all gone. Next time we get a girl one. He's with Heavenly Father and Jesus."

Anytime someone is upset, sad, etc, she says they need their mommy and their daddy, and sometimes she adds brother on there. She talks a lot about mommies, daddies, and brothers. I know it's because that's what her immediate family consists of.

She also said, "My fishy is dead" and "I flush my fish in the potty, in the big potty." I let her flush him down after I dumped him in the toilet. I think it was good closure for her.

At one point, she also said he was with Dory. Ah, the hazards of naming a pet after a movie character.

Now, she wants a a white "girl" fish. Haha, as if I can tell with goldfish. When she talked to John on the phone after, she said, "you get a new one, when you get home."

The plan was for John to pick up a replacement fish after school/meetings. He had to pick up her birthday cake for the party anyway.

Of course, the one day we need a new fish, Walmart is completely out of goldfish. Everything else they had requires a heater. I don't think a heater would work in our tiny 1 gallon tank...and they require a different kind of food. No, that just won't work for us.

So we have to wait until they have more goldfish. We hope to try today, but the roads are all icky and covered in snow (and it's still snowing), so we're playing it by ear. Hopefully they plow the roads soon. Not that likely, but I can still hope. I have some grocery shopping to do.

In any case, we'll be sure to get a white "girl" fish next. Hm, I wonder what Emma will name the next one? Dory? ;)

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