Week 39: First Pet

Meet "Mr. Fish."

Jonah's preschool does a nice job finding good quality programs to enhance their curriculum. They cost extra, of course, but we're able to pick and choose the programs we feel will be most interesting for Jonah. The latest addition is a safari program where animals are brought to the school for the kids to touch and learn. Jonah is a big fan of the zoo and all sorts of animals, so we thought it would be a good fit and signed him up. Along with his enrollment came a "free betta fish!"

Betta's are usually fairly easy to care for so we decided to accept the free gift. We neglected, however, to do our research on the current prices for all of the various bits and pieces we would need to purchase to give our free friend a home. . . so, $71 dollars later, Jonah has his first pet. Jonah's doing a very nice job caring for Mr. Fish. He's very interested in the fish and loves to feed him. I have a feeling I know who will be cleaning the tank, but that's alright.

We all went to the pet store together to pick out Mr. Fish's home. Jonah and Mommy looked at the turtles and other fish while I picked out the tank. Jonah picked out the gravel and we went to pick out a plant or decoration for Mr. Fish to explore. Naturally, they had a "Finding Nemo" decoration (a movie that Jonah had not seen to that point) and he latched onto it instantly. Mommy also picked up a small artificial plant to place in the tank. It's a good thing Mommy grabbed the plant because Jonah has yet to let go of Nemo. He's obsessed and us letting him watch the movie didn't help. I'm telling myself it's OK because Jonah really wanted to hold Mr. Fish at first and didn't understand why that wasn't possible. He's come around and no longer asks to hold him - I think Nemo is filling that void. Unfortunately, Nemo is not designed to be a toy for a 2.5 year old and he's already very familiar with Daddy's superglue. I think Santa may be aware of the situation and might just bring a plush Nemo to keep his "duck" company. If you look closely, you'll see Nemo in Jonah's hand.

Photo: My thought was to make a photo that emulated the light coming from the fish tank illuminating Jonah's face. I knew the little LEDs that light the tank wouldn't be strong enough to get enough light on Jonah, so I needed to add a flash. I think I got fairly close, but the color of the flash is a little warmer than the very cool white light in the tank. My solution was a small speedlight with a grid camera right just out of frame and level with Jonah's face and the tank. This is my 50mm lens at f/2.