Gary

Emma jabbers away all the time.  I don’t always know what she’s saying, but there are more and more things I understand each day.  For the last week or so she’s been saying what really sounds like “Gary.”  Mark has at least a couple of uncles named Gary.  But we rarely see them, and don’t talk about them enough for her to overhear and learn their names.  I know she’s seen a couple of minutes of SpongeBob, and he has a pet snail named Gary.  But we don’t watch SpongeBob on a regular basis, and we haven’t had cable since May. So I certainly know she hasn’t seen it recently. She watches Veggie Tales more than anything.  But when she says Larry it’s clearly Larry. So, I have no idea where she might have learned Gary, or if it’s another word entirely.

I’ve been wanting to get Emma a pet fish for awhile.  I’ve always liked fish, but got rid of our big aquarium several years ago.  Emma always likes to stop and look at the fish at Wal-Mart.  So I got her a little 1 gallon aquarium and a beta.  I also got 2 little neon tetras.  She doesn’t really notice the tetras.  But the beta is her new friend. 

So what do you think she named her new friend?  You guessed it.  Gary.  She has to say good morning to Gary first thing in the morning.  And she says goodnight to him before bed every night.  It’s so sweet (and a great reminder to me to feed the fish…)