But I open the pane and pop out the flame just to see how the wind do blow

[sovay]

My niece was fascinated by the lobsters in their tanks at Fresh Pond Seafood. We had just picked up our order to go when a shipment of fresh lobsters arrived on ice. Instantly she did not want to leave; she wanted to watch them transferred into the tanks, she stepped up onto the low wooden rim of the flower bed out front of the store to get a better look into the crates in the back of the truck; when I explained what was going on, the lobster/deliveryman took one off the top of the ice and offered it for her to hold. She wasn't quite comfortable taking it herself, but she petted its cold shell when I held it and watched its antennae move and there was a slight mishap handing it back to the man, but I confirmed afterward that the lobster was fine. I am not sure she understands entirely that crustaceans in tanks, when encountered in a fish market, are not pets after the fashion of Gérard de Nerval, but she was so excited about them—she named several while we were waiting and declared an enormous blue one their leader, causing me to imagine a jailbreak or heist—and I love that the older man making the delivery responded to her enthusiasm in kind. Then we went home and ate fried clams and shrimp and rewatched the first hour of Ponyo (2008), after which it was bedtime just as Ponyo finished her ramen and passed out. Next week we are planning to take her to the sea.

Comments

[yhlee]

Aww, that is the cutest thing ever.

A couple years back we were at a Maker Fair held at the public library and Arabelle conceived an instant love for a pendant that was a metal cast of a crawfish shell. The creator of the pendant was so happy to see a teenage girl appreciate his work like that that he sold us the pendant for a significant discount (I would have been happy to pay full price but we hadn't brought much cash with us and they weren't set up to take credit card). She still keeps that crawfish shell pendant in her jewelry box. :)

[sovay]

Aww, that is the cutest thing ever.

I really like my niece.

She still keeps that crawfish shell pendant in her jewelry box.

That's wonderful!

[minoanmiss]

That is SO ADORABLE and reminds me of crab shopping with my aunt (the one I wrote about).

[sovay]

That is SO ADORABLE and reminds me of crab shopping with my aunt (the one I wrote about).

Crab shopping with your aunt sounds great. (I used to go to the fish market with my grandmother.)

[lilysea]

If there were humans descended from mer-people, it sounds like your niece [and you!] would be some of them! ^_^

[sovay]

If there were humans descended from mer-people, it sounds like your niece [and you!] would be some of them!

She wants so much to be a mermaid, the shape-changing kind: to have a tail in the water and legs on land and maybe, if she's on land and runs through a sprinkler, just to have some scales or finned toes or something. I commiserate.

(She is also, at other times, a cat and a fox and a seal; I have told her this is quite normal, too.)

[kore]

Ohh boy your niece was Wee Moi the very first time my parents took me to a seafood restaurant in San Francisco (I think it was called "Sam's," lol) and I was fascinated by the lobsters in the tanks and wanted to reach in and play with them ("NO") and named some and....then they dragged me into the restaurant and I realized what the lobsters were there for. It was not a happy dinner.

(It must've been Sam's Grill https://samsgrill-sf.com/history/)

[troisoiseaux]

She wants so much to be a mermaid, the shape-changing kind

Has she read the Emily Windsnap books? (Middle-grade series with that exact premise.)

[troisoiseaux]

I am not sure she understands entirely that crustaceans in tanks, when encountered in a fish market, are not pets after the fashion of Gérard de Nerval

Not with that kind of attitude they're not!

(...actually, I'm sure there are reasons it's not feasible to keep a lobster as a pet.)

[selkie]

I wish Child was ever anything; they don't so much pretend to be a cat as sometimes are a cat, but it's the aphantasia striking again.
Also, they taught me about catgender recently and I'm torn between "...huh" and "Why am I parenting in this century. "

[larryhammer]

it was bedtime just as Ponyo finished her ramen and passed out

That is the perfect pause point.

[sovay]

Has she read the Emily Windsnap books? (Middle-grade series with that exact premise.)

No—I haven't read them, either, although I've seen them around. I don't think she's at a middle-grade reading level yet, but you recommend?

[sovay]

Also, they taught me about catgender recently and I'm torn between "...huh" and "Why am I parenting in this century."

How is cat a gender as opposed to something one generally is?

[sovay]

and....then they dragged me into the restaurant and I realized what the lobsters were there for. It was not a happy dinner.

I'm sorry. My brother doesn't eat duck to this day because we raised ducklings for a few years in our childhood.

[sovay]

(...actually, I'm sure there are reasons it's not feasible to keep a lobster as a pet.)

I don't see how it would be any less feasible than other pets which require a cold salt water aquarium! I just don't know the logistics.

[sovay]

That is the perfect pause point.

Someday we will watch that movie with ramen.

[troisoiseaux]

I only ever read the first two or three books - there are others, but they were published after I'd aged out of the series - but I was a fan, especially of the first book— it was definitely a "re-read over and over" favorite at, oh, probably 10 years old? 11? No idea how they'd hold up, though.

[asakiyume]

she named several while we were waiting and declared an enormous blue one their leader, causing me to imagine a jailbreak or heist

--this would make a fabulous picture book if we could get a really good illustrator.

[larryhammer]

We did once, during a dinnertime watching, try to time serving udon* to coincide with Sosuke and Ponyo's meal, but muffed the timing. It was still fun.

* Which Eaglet preferred at the time.

[troisoiseaux]

The thing that immediately jumps out at me is that— aren’t lobsters basically immortal if you don’t, like, actively kill them? (Actually, I just checked, and the estimates are that they can live for 30-50 years in the wild before they can't molt anymore and die as a result.) The other thing is size— there was apparently a wild lobster "the size of a toddler" found in Maine. So, it's probably difficult to set up an adequate aquarium in a home environment...

Can't format it well, because I'm on my phone, but all lobster facts are from this article: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dont-listen-to-the-buzz-lobsters-arent-actually-immortal-88450872/

[sovay]

So, it's probably difficult to set up an adequate aquarium in a home environment...

I agree that a lobster wouldn't be a starter project—and a lot more like having a parrot than a puppy—but it doesn't strike me as inherently more ludicrous than certain kinds of tropical fish or turtles, which can also be long-lived and need a lot of water. My mental model was the lobster-rearing exhibit at the New England Aquarium.

[sovay]

--this would make a fabulous picture book if we could get a really good illustrator.

spatch and I imagine them communicating in Morse code with their rubber-banded claws, rapping on the tank walls. (Children learn about lobsters and Morse code!)

[selkie]

...Did my comment from earlier ever post? Did you delete it for your own sanity? WHO CAN SAY.

[sovay]

...Did my comment from earlier ever post?

This is the first reply I've had on the topic! Did you delete it for my sanity?

[selkie]

https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Catgender

The DEFINITION of YKINMK!!

[watervole]

Candlelight fisherman! Love that one.

Children are very strange. I suspect she realises at some levels that clams and shrimp were once living, but they don't always connect the dots.

My seven- year old granddaughter makes comets out of pieces of wool, and they have amazing adventures while living in a clamshell at the bottom of the sea.

She also chats astrophysics with her grandad and is perfectly aware that real comets are balls of icy rock, but it still doesn't stop her play ones having babies....

[watervole]

Marine fish tanks require real skill. Much harder to maintain than a freshwater tank. PLus lobsters travel enormous distances in the wild.

[sovay]

Candlelight fisherman! Love that one.

I believe I have the album it comes from courtesy of choco_frosh.

I suspect she realises at some levels that clams and shrimp were once living, but they don't always connect the dots.

From the way she talks about it, she seems to have made the connection between some foods and animals, but not yet others. She understands that I can threaten the rabbits that wreck my mother's garden with being turned into hasenpfeffer, and she likes when I sing the fried shrimp song (it bobs through the depths of the ocean, serenely boasting of its existence untroubled by whales, until the small child engulfs it), but where hot dogs come from is still a mystery.

She also chats astrophysics with her grandad and is perfectly aware that real comets are balls of icy rock, but it still doesn't stop her play ones having babies....

That sounds completely reasonable to me.

[ethelmay]

I am reminded that one of my then-four-year-old daughters, when given a small stuffed shark on Christmas, matter-of-factly stuffed it under her shirt to breastfeed it. I am fairly sure that even at four she knew that sharks were not mammals (she was that kind of kid).

[sovay]

I am fairly sure that even at four she knew that sharks were not mammals (she was that kind of kid).

(a) I was three and a half when my brother was born; I nursed my stuffed Snoopy in imitation of my mother.

(b) That's adorable!

[alexxkay]

Kes asks: Did you explain de Nerval to her?

[sovay]

Kes asks: Did you explain de Nerval to her?

Prior to this conversation, yes, I had mentioned him. She had been playing with a little plush lobster, which made me think of it.