Fishy Fishy Fishy...

When I got home from work this afternoon, Ellie was nowhere in sight. Ricardo was finishing up cleaning the kitchen (thanks sweetie!), but I didn't see Ellie anywhere. She usually runs to greet me when I get home, so I was immediately suspicious. All of a sudden, I hear her hollering from her bedroom "Mommy, come see my fishy!"

I'm still in the process of putting down keys, hanging up purse, taking of shoes, etc. So I holler back that I'll be right in there.

Ricardo encourages me to hurry and go look, apparently she has something she really wants to show me. I'm thinking that she drew a PICTURE of a fishy. Or has played dress up with one of the 2 fish stuffed animals that she has.

Before I can make it down the hall to her bedroom, she comes shuffling slowly into the living room with a small round clear container full of water. I look at Ricardo.

Me: You did NOT.

Ricardo: Yeah.. I did.

So he took her to the pet store today, bright and early, while Mama was working-- and came home with a fish. Not only that, he let the kid have the fish in her room-- which is dangerous territory for anything living-- case in point:

Ricardo told me this story just as we're getting ready for bed tonight:

He was doing something elsewhere, as Ellie was playing in her room unsupervised, with the fish in there. He said he left the fish on her Dora table. Did he think she'd leave it there in peace??

He went in to check on her, and she was riding her tricycle around her bedroom.

The fish was not on the table.

She had the fish's little container (about the size of a can of frosting) in the back cargo part of her trike, giving it a ride around her bedroom.

I can't believe the fish was still alive when I got home. I think it's now suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome in its new home. (yes, the fish has upgraded to a bigger tank with "pink diamonds"--gravel, and a few seashells.)

Anyway... We now have 2 pets. Which I guess is okay. I don't know how he's planning on moving said fish in less than a month when we MOVE... but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. He suggested letting Ellie carry it in the car all the way to the new house, and when I flipped out on him for that dumb idea, he defensively said "What?? That's how it got home today."

Yes, he trusted the poor fish in its sad little container to Ellie's 3 year old hands while they all 3 rode home in the car. Unbelievable. I'm glad they did all this when I was not there, I would have had a Crazy Mama attack for sure. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to my household.

Ricardo pointed out a sad fact: Of all the individuals living in our house, he is the ONLY male.

I am a woman. Ellie is a girl. Baby Eva is a girl. Luna is a girl bird. Now we have FishyFishyFishy (yes, that's it's name, creative, eh??), who the pet store also labeled a female beta fish. And she's pink. Poor Ricardo is lucky to survive among so much estrogen.

At any rate, while I admit that it shocked me, I think it's really cute that he took Ellie to pick out her own fish. And it's a cheap kind, so when it bites the bullet, we can easily replace the "sleeping fishy" with a new one.