Heart

That's what Ava calls her fishy. Let me explain how "Heart" came to live at our house. Soon after Emily was born, it was Mike's turn to put Ava in bed. Sometimes this task is extremely challenging. After a drink of water, 2 stories, back rub, another story about when you were little, a dramatic and well planned need to go potty even though she just went, suddenly she can't find Snow White (her favorite doll), and so on.........you can find yourself getting very frustrated. At this point I usually lay down the law and become pretty stern. If Ava doesn't stay in bed and quiet down, I start taking away privileges. Daddy, on the other hand, starts making promises. Somehow on this night he must have been pretty desperate to get Ava to sleep because he promised her a trip to the pet store. I'm not sure if a fish was part of the promise, but once they were at the store they decided to get a fish. Well....they couldn't just get a little fish in a bowl. It turned into a 3 day project, complete with getting an aquarium, rocks, plants, decorations, fish, etc. and then setting the whole thing up. I hesitantly gave my blessing (not that anyone asked) to this project because it was a good father-daughter bonding experience and because I do feel a little (very little) guilty that Ava does not have a dog, cat, bunny, whatever. I was hesitant because I just knew that I'd end up being in charge of the cleaning and care of the aquarium and fish. Yuck. Well, the fishies were Heart and Flower. Ava specifically picked them out and named em'. Flower has perished, but Heart lives on, no matter how neglected he, excuse me SHE is. In the background of the first 2 pictures you can see the scummy aquarium that I need to clean and take apart for the move. I had thought about giving Heart away to a neighbor with an aquarium or even (gasp!) a little flushy flushy on our way out the door. But as you can see from these pictures, I'm pretty sure that she needs to make the move with us. She is Ava's pet. This morning Ava was watching Noggin and the topic was pets. The character on the show asked, "Do you have a dog or a cat?" Ava yells back at the TV, "NO! A fishy. My Heart." Yep, the fishy will be riding shotgun.