1. Do the Activity sheets.
2. Bring your favorite pet animal (real) for our show and tell activity on Monday. (e.g. dog, cat, fish, turtle and bird).
My husband and I contemplated for a while. Our Labrador, Bruno seems too big to bring to school. Besides, Bruno doesn't enjoy car rides. We also realized that my husband couldn't drive us to school the following Monday. We couldn't possibly let Bruno ride inside the school service. It was out of the question.
Think ... Think ... Think
Why not bring the love birds? My husband said. I said the poor birds might get stressed traveling. Another reason was that the bird cage was quite old and had some rust on it. It just wouldn't do.
Think ... Think ... Think
My SIL learned of Yohan's assignment and offered to lend us their white rabbit, Yuki. It was very thoughtful of her but I'm just not comfortable in borrowing someone else's pet. What if for some reason the rabbit got hurt in school? I won't take it against you if you think I'm too paranoid because I could be at times :) Besides, My SIL doesn't have a rabbit carrier or something like that to put Yuki in. I still would have needed to buy a temporary cage for it so we tried to think of another option.
Think ... Think ... Think
Let's buy a fish! I merrily exclaimed to my husband but he immediately replied that it was too common. He said it was hard to bring a fish to school because the water might just spill and we would need to buy a fish bowl for it. A fish bowl is made of glass and not a good idea for a 4-yr old to carry inside the school.
Think ... Think ... Think
My hubby thought of a hamster. Yohan wanted a hamster before so it seemed like a good idea. My questions was, "Who would take care of it after?" I had a bad experience with a white mouse before. I was using one for a Psychology experiment in college (teaching it to go through a maze through conditioning) and for some reason, it bit my finger. I've been wary of mice, hamsters and the like ever since. So that too was removed from the list.
Think ... Think ... Think
You're probably tired of reading this already so let me tell you the final decision ...
Hubby agreed to the fish idea after so many choices. We went to the pet shop to buy Yohan a fish and good luck was on our side. Since a glass fish bowl was not such a good idea from the start, we were thrilled to find this small, plastic fish "bowl". It only came in one (lid) color - pink but it was okay.
We wanted to get a gold fish or an angel fish but the lady at the pet shop said that they required oxygen. We were told that a Siamese Fighting Fish doesn't require artificial oxygen so we chose that one.
Yohan was happy with his pet fish. He named it Bubbles.
On November 12, 2007, Yohan had his first Show and Tell Activity in school. It turned out that Yohan was the only student who brought a fish. :) Many of his classmates brought birds, one brought a rabbit and one brought two small turtles. Parents were not part of the activity so I didn't see Yohan introduce his pet but after his class, Teacher Renn enthusiastically told me that Yohan did really well. She said she was amazed by Yohan's great interest and love for animals.
After class, we brought home Bubbles with us and two more. I was talking to Baby, mother of Princess, Yohan's classmate. I learned that she bought the turtles specifically for the school activity but didn't know what to do with them afterwards. She said that Princess didn't like the turtles either. When she learned that as a child, I always wanted to have a pet turtle, she didn't hesitate to give them to me.
So, Yohan had three new pets, Bubbles and the two turtles that he later on named as Mr. and Mrs. Max. I really have no idea where he got those names.
The turtles were inside a plastic box that had holes on its lid. I realized it was a plastic cheese grater/container. My husband picked us up from school that day. I already called him to inform him of the turtles so after having lunch together, we went straight to the pet shop to buy a small aquarium and food for our new pets.
Here you can see Jules, putting the turtles inside after setting up the new aquarium.
Jules made use of pieces of left over granite and pebbles. He added some water and in just a few minutes, the new home of the turtles was ready. The turtles seemed really happy to be swimming again especially after being cooped inside the tiny plastic box for several hours without any water.
I seemed more excited than Yohan to watch the turtles swimming. I really wanted a turtle as a pet before but because of some superstitious belief my parents had, they didn't want turtles in the house. I already live in my own house, so I'm free to have whatever pet I want. Below you could see Yohan curiously looking at Mr. and Mrs. Max. Bubbles was also beside him. One big happy family. :)
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