Fish Funeral

Last night Abigail's fish died. We gave it to her for her third birthday. This fish never really got a name and not a whole lot of attention from the girls. The idea was to teach Abigail responsibility, but I ended up feeding him (Abigail had a generous pinch) and Jonathan cleaned the tank (not that we'd ever consider letting her do that).

Anyway, this morning Jonathan asked me what I wanted him to do. I wanted him to flush it, though he thought I meant in secret. Cue the impromptu fish funeral with the girls.

A few cute phrases were uttered when he first let them know the fish died:

Abigail : I think he had a tunny ache because he drank too much water (yesterday Jonathan took some water out to make it easier for the fish to reach the surface, so she thought the fish was to blame for the loss of water).

Sarah : He died
Abigail : No, Sarah, he's DEAD.
Sarah : He died
Abigail : He's DEAD.
I tried explaining that they were saying the same thing, but gave up on it.

When Jonathan mentioned to the girls it was time to flush the fish Abigail insisted he wanted to stay in his home. We convinced her the toilet was a better idea.

We got to the bathroom where Jonathan began to pour the contents of the tank. We soon realized the fish wasn't coming out without some sort of assistance. We sent Abigail away for a plastic spoon. First she came back with a metal spoon. Then she went back to the kitchen and came back to us with a plastic fork declaring, "he won't care, he's dead." 

In the meantime, Sarah wanted to rush to the kitchen to get us a plastic spoon (they like to fight over who gets to help). I got her to stay with us by letting her know that her job was to flush the toilet. Once Jonathan was in place Sarah manned her station and took her job very seriously. There was a pour, a scoop, and a flush and he was gone.

Oh, and I forgot to mention how many times Abigail said she wanted a new fish (oh, and a dog on top of that). We'll be taking a break on pets for a little while.