Saturday, April 25, 2009

{a fishy tale}



The phone rang at about 9:30 Friday morning.


It was Grandma Butler, the bearer of wonderful news.


"Hey Ash." she said. "Dad {aka Grandpa} will be here until this evening and Amber is bringing Moo Moo {aka the cat officially known as Moonbeam} and the kittens over while she is at work."


There was no need to extend an invite as she knew that Gage would jump at any chance to see "his" beloved cat and her new babies. {And Grandpa of course.} You see, Moo Moo has been on maternity leave for the past few weeks and Gage has missed her something awful.


Gage was soon told of the news which led to a once-every-thirty-minutes chant of "I want see Moo Moo. I want see Moo Moo."


The Hubby was contacted by way of text message during his EMT class {yes it was THAT important} and plans were made to set our sails to Show Low later that afternoon.


I assume Gage was still sceptical of our dedication as the chants continued.


We made our merry way up the drive early into the evening. We were greeted by a harsh bit of cold wind and squealing girls who couldn't wait to squeeze their nephews. Gage would have none of this. It was straight up the stairs for him, to what was once my bedroom, then Amber's and now Elsie's. Gage had been tipped off by his auntie that Moo Moo may just be camping out underneath the bed.


The tip proved good.


Gage was in absolute heaven. Reunited with his favorite black and white friend and introduced to the tiniest, rat-resembling, balls of fur. It was made perfectly clear that he would like to keep one for himself.


If only we were cat people this little boy's wishes would have been granted.


He begrudgingly rejoined the congregation downstairs and went about his evening making frequent remarks about Moo Moo and her "beebies". Oh how I wish I had a love in my heart for cats and their hairy messes. But alas.


Later into the evening there was an excited shriek as it was realized that Cosmo had just had her fourth puppy. Oh I'm sorry. Did I skip that part?


Cosmo is an old family dog {who I love dearly} that was recently discovered to be with puppy. And to all of our surprise, decided to deliver the same day of our visit. Gage was in a pet frenzy. His current pets are three large hounds who dwarf him and of them only one is fit to play with him.
Now what boy wouldn't love a puppy of his own to grow up with? Gage held out his hands so sweet and gently as if to say, "I'll take that one please."


If only we didn't have three extra doggy mouths to feed already this little boys wishes would have been granted.


After all kinds of doting over cute fuzzy creatures, a few good rounds of Peanuts and some tasty bean burritos, we bid our farewell and made way to the Wal-Mart.


We kept to our usual routine of divide and conquer. It's the only way to get out of there before meltdown time. Gage hopped in his cart with Daddy as the driver and I kept the smallest of our brigade and made a bee-line for the groceries.


I should have learned by now never to attempt grocery shopping without a list. My mind tends to draw a blank as soon as I pass the bread isle. So after clumsily filling our basket I called the Hubby on his cell phone and we met at check-out number nine.


You can imagine my surprise when I saw a fish swimming around on the check-out counter.


I looked at the Hubby, then at Gage, then at the cashier thinking that perhaps someone had just forgotten their new friend.


Wrong.


The Hubby saw my confusion. "Gage got a fish." he offered.


"Oh I see that." I replied.


"Mommy, fishy!" said my bright eyed preschool going boy.


And just like that it became official. We were now the proud new owners of what the Hubby assured me was the ugliest Beta fish they had and the only one Gage had any intentions of bringing home with him.


Apparently we just couldn't say no to one more two-year-old sized dream of a pet.


Last night on our way home, the fish was dubbed the name Boat.
This morning I think it might have been changed to Freddy.
At this very moment I cannot confirm his proper name as it is most assuredly neither Boat nor Freddy.
All I know is that before Gage went to bed last night he wanted to kiss his new friend goodnight. And while I find that to be gross and would never let him do it, it made me smile from ear to ear.

4 comments:

Mary said...

Note to Gage from a fellow cat-person: Keep up the chanting--eventually they'll give in! Cat's are ever so much more cuddly and soooooo much cleaner and less licky-the-privates-in-public or humpy-the-visitor's-leg than those silly doggies. Take it from your Great Aunt Mary; she knows. Be discreet, but don't give up...shhh...

{nicole coombs} said...

That was a very cute story! And i must say I have been thinking about getting cory a fish of his own for awhile now. I am just debating were exactly he would live in that bowl. It would have to be out of reach for the little hands that might squish him. Let me know how it goes...

Fullerton Family said...

Oh how fun and very cute. I love that Matt gave in a bought him a fishy much to your surprise! And Boat- now there is a good fish name! Love you and your cute family!

JDButler Family said...

so funny! I think that I'm fully beleiving the son-in-law!