Zip, Zip, and Away!

This story has been long overdue, but I have to write about it before it's too late. Well, it is too late, but I still have to document our first pet experience.

It all began when Tim, as the Young Men's President, was in charge of hosting their combined YM/YW activity. The activity? An etiquette dinner. Tim planned a nice dinner menu and simple decorations that included four glass bowls filled with water, neon tetra, and rose petals. I asked Tim what his plan was for the fish after the dinner. He said he thought they'd be a great first pet for Xavier. Ha! Well, I guess my hope to avoid the whole pet phase was short lived. But I guess it's easier than taking care of a dog. So I went along with this plan.

(As a side note: Tim and a couple young men coordinated everything. Tim did a pretty good job on this activity don't you think? I didn't know he had it in him being a guy and all. This is usually a female's forte.)

Xavier was thrilled to finally get a pet after many conversations begging for a dog or some kind of pet. He named his fish Izzy, Blitzwing, Bombshell, and Jack. We had the fish for about a week before we had to leave for Michigan. Tim decided to clean their water the night before we left town to make sure they'd be okay while we were gone. Within minutes of changing the water all of them went belly up. Oops! I think he shocked them to death. We didn't mention it to Xavier with the intent of replacing the fish when we got home from our trip. It was great timing in the sense that we didn't have to figure out what to do with the fish while we were gone, but unfortunate because we knew if Xavier found out it would upset him.

All was good until the second day we returned from our vacation. I was cooking dinner and Xavier was sitting on the counter keeping me company. The bowl usually sat on the counter near where I cook. Xavier glanced over in the spot where the bowl used to be and asked where his fish were. I was totally caught off guard and therefore did not think of a better answer than "Oh, bud, they died. I'm so sorry." Then I instantly witnessed my son's face completely crumble into despair. The tears just started coming down his face and all he could do was cry. I was not expecting him to have become so attached to these little fish. So, as soon as daddy got home, we took Xavier to the pet store to pick out a new fish. He picked a goldfish. After seeing his forlorn face for two hours, his smile returned and his spirits were once again cheerful. He decided to name his goldfish Zip! All is good in the world once more.

Zip was a great fish! The next morning as I was getting ready, Xavier said "Mom, I'm not going to tell you about the fish food. But I will tell you Zip is fine!" That's code for "Mom, you better check on Zip." I followed X into his room to find Zip swimming in a cloud of fish food. Lesson #1...mommy keeps the fish food and we feed him together. Fish was fed, bowl was emptied and replaced with clean water, and Zip was once again a happy camper.

Zip has been a fine addition to our family. Gavin loves watching Zip swim around his bowl and Xavier loves having some company in his room especially at night.

Well, you might think this story is over, but it is not. It gets even better. The Donadieu Family came to visit for two weeks over Christmas break. We were so excited to have their company. A couple days after Christmas Noah was putting the boys to bed. I was folding laundry and I remembered I hadn't fed Zip that day. I came upstairs to find Noah and Tim leaving the house. I was a bit perplexed. It wasn't basketball night and it wasn't guys night out. Kendra informed me that when Tim went to say goodnight to Xavier he noticed Zip floating at the top of his bowl. Yikes! Not again! Thankfully Noah and Tim saved the day by getting a new goldfish while the boys were sleeping. However, the goldfish was noticeably smaller than the original Zip. We hoped that this would slide by Xavier's keen little eyes. The next morning Xavier came down the stairs, looked at the fish bowl, and exclaimed, "Wow! My fish shrunk!" Phew. Crazy how that happens sometimes. Luckily he didn't take his logic a step further.

BUT the next day we found Zip number 2 floating at the top of his bowl. What the?????

Tim and Noah once again went on a pet store fish hunt. The original pet store informed us that the entire batch of fish had some bacterial infection and were dying rather quickly. So Tim and Noah went to 3 other stores only to find fish in a similar state. This time they didn't come home with a fish.

We were hoping X wouldn't notice until we could somehow find a decent goldfish. We put the empty bowl in our room hoping that out of sight would be out of mind for a couple days. Well, the evidence was discovered and all Tim said was that Zip got sick so we had to take him back to the pet store. We assured X that we would get a new fish.

And that is how the story went. Disaster averted for a fourth time and Xavier is at peace that he will be getting a new fish. Unfortunately I had intentions of taking a picture of X with Zip, but didn't get around to it before his departure from this world. I will be sure to post a picture of his new fish when it arrives.