Meet Finny

Here he is . . . the latest member of the family, Finny.

My poor kid, between our travel schedule, my allergies and our lease agreement this is the best we could do for a pet. Every time we are around my in-laws and their dog, my mother-in-law says "The boy needs a dog." Yes, I'm sure he'd love a dog, but it would be really unfair to kennel a dog as often as we travel.

Thomas wanted a pet so badly. It was a constant conversation in our house. We finally found something we could probably work with - the betta fish. Low maintenance, quiet, no dander & a tiny brain that cannot be emotionally traumatized*. Plus, it can be fed for 10 days at a time using a special slow-releasing food tablet. But being the horrible, mean parents we are, we still didn't rush out and buy one. No, we made Thomas earn it.

TMI time - because he is mostly formula fed, Thomas struggles with constipation & general poop issues. (Wow, and you thought we might make it a whole month into a mommy blog without talking poop. Wrong!) We had tried everything. Everything. Seriously. Everything. We had tried bribery before, but either the stakes weren't high enough or he just wasn't ready. So, seeing just how badly the kid wanted a pet, we made a deal that if Thomas could keep his pants clean for 30 days in a row that we could get the betta fish. He had one mishap early on & the 30 days had to be restarted, but he did manage to get it on the 2nd try. Woohoo! I'm really hopeful that we've helped him build some better habits and that poop pants will remain a thing of the past.

So what does that say about us? That bribery is our best parenting technique? Does it make it better if I call it behavior modification??

*Don't tell the kid this. He has been talking to the fish as if it were a dog. "Hey, Finny, do you want this, huh? Do ya boy?" while shaking the blood worm container in front of the tank.