Fish Tales

A couple of weeks ago, I went in to Madi's bedroom to do something, and when I glanced at her fish tank, I couldn't find Aqua in the tank. I hollered for Jimmy (he's my lifeline), but when I looked down at the rug, I found my answer. Aqua must have jumped out of the tank and died.

Madi was sad, but almost immediately, she glommed on to the idea of getting a new fish. And so she now has another fish--this one a beautiful bright blue, which she has named "Indie" (nickname for Indigo).

As we were driving to the pet store, I overhead much conversation between Madi and Charlie about Aqua in Heaven and her new pet fish. He seemed very interested in it all..and then I had an epiphany.

You see, we've been working on improving several "areas" of Charlie's routine. He's clearly started to need some assistance in the area of going to sleep like a big boy. So, why not a little reward system for good behavior?

I threw the idea out there, and Charlie fully embraced it.  I promised him that, if he would go to bed like a big boy for the next week, he would get a fish that following Sunday.  We even bought his little fish tank to keep on the bookshelf as a reminder of our deal.

Worked like a charm.

Charlie was great all week, which gave Jimmy and me some time together in the evenings.

On Sunday, we celebrated. The three of us went to PetSmart again, and Charlie was adamant that he wanted a red fish. Thank goodness they had two at the store to choose from that day.

He loves his fish, and so far, so good. On all fronts.

Oh...and for those of you wondering what he named his fish?  If you've seen this post, you already know.

Yeah...you guessed it.