Our poor goldfish

A couple of weeks ago one of our goldfish went belly-up. He didn't last long, but for $.50 a fish you really can't expect much. It was Maddie's fish and I thought she was a bit too young to learn about all of that, but I called Claire in and told her that the fishy had gone to Heaven and we needed to send him back to the ocean. We said a little prayer for him and flushed him down the toilet. Claire was heartbroken and bawled her eyes out but we replaced him and Maddie was none the wiser.

This morning I noticed that both fish were belly-up in the bowl. I sat the girls down to breakfast and oh-so-sneakily flushed the fish, trying to figure out how to deal with it this time around. Do I go to the pet store and try to find two more fish that look just like the original two? Do I 'fess up and tell the girls? I had already flushed them, so a somber ceremony was out of the question this time. Hmmmm... After much contemplation, here's how it went down when Maddie and I picked up Claire from preschool:

Me: Girls! Guess where we get to go today!
Girls: (excitedly) Where???
Me: To the pet store!!! Our fishies got sick last night so we have to go to the pet store to pick out two new ones to replace them!!! (said with much enthusiasm, like this is the best news in the world)
Girls: Yay! Oh boy! The pet store!!!

So now I know how to deliver that information the next time it's necessary (which seems pretty often, judging on how many fish we've been through already!). Bon chance, new fishies!