Casey the crayfish, who seems to dislike me (and only me).
You may have heard about our newest "pet": a crayfish. The week before Thanksgiving we received a note from the oldest mini's teacher. Apparently the third grade classes have been studying crayfish and had been taking care of them for several weeks. Now that the unit is over, the school was giving the crayfish to any students who wanted one and were able to provide the needed items for caring for a crayfish.
Max (oldest mini) handed me the note, "I'd like one of the crayfish. They're really cool."
"Okay," I responded. I mean, we've had butterflies, ladybugs, a praying mantis, and frog just in the last six months, so a crayfish seemed like nothing.
All week I let him impart his crayfish knowledge on me. What they ate, how to feed them, how to pick them up, what they don't like, how to properly touch one, etc. He was an expert. He assured me he knew how to take care of the crayfish because he's been doing it all school year. In my mind, I was letting him have this crayfish to continue with the responsibility of caring for one. It would be his job to feed it, change it's water, make sure it didn't crawl out of it's tank (an actual fear of mine). I was kinda excited for this thing.
Cut to the day he brought it home. He handed me the container with a "here ya go" (as if it were mine) and walked into his room. That's the most attention he's given Casey the crayfish. When it came time for it's first feeding, I handed him the food and said "okay, go ahead and feed it."
He looked at me and replied, "well, I don't know how to do it. I've never done it before." What the hell? This was completely new information to me.
I stammered, "but, but you said you knew how to feed it and take care of it. YOU TOLD ME you'd take care of it and knew how!" All I got was a shoulder shrug. I'll give you one guess who has been feeding the damn crayfish (who hates me by the way and attempts to pinch me every time I stick my hand near it), cleaning it, making sure there's enough water, making sure it stays dark enough....that's right, me.
I can't really say I'm angry or surprised by this. I was famous for the "but I'll take care of it!" line. It's how I got dogs, cats, and fishes when I was a kid. I just know I'm not falling for the "I promise I'll take care if it," again.