Over the next few days, we repeat the same routine. I make her pb & j's for her next few meals. I started mixing in cold cut sandwiches and different fruit to see if she liked it.
She did.
And if a mermaid eats meat, she has to eat fish, right? So two days after I brought her home, I bring her a tuna fish sandwich for dinner. Its now her favorite thing. She especially likes when I mix in little bits of a boiled egg in it. Just trying to keep her healthy.
Since that first day, I realized that she'd rather eat in the shallow end on the stairs. So when I come to drop off her food, she'll swim in a flash of blue shimmers to the deep end and wait till I leave the food on the edge and leave to approach. I can even get closer to her now when she eats.
But starting week 2 of my poolmate being here, the biggest improvement has been in her attitude. The first few days she would stay under all day and only surface to eat & glare at me. Now I can see her swimming around the pool's surface watching the birds and playing with the stray cats that roam the area. They'll sense her in the pool and creep up to the water's edge to investigate. Then she'll surface and splash them with a huge push from her tail. Once she did it when I was out there reading and watching her. Normally I try to be quiet, but I couldn't help but laugh as the soaked-to-the-bone cat bolted to whatever hole it crawled out of. But instead glaring or diving away, she looked at me and smiled. And for the first time since I saw her walking on the street she really looked beautiful.