If there’s one thing I know about myself, it’s that I never drank as much water as I should have. I would typically have about three cups of water per day. Now I’m consistently drinking ten. And none of this would’ve been possible without Dan.

Dan is my virtual dandelion, the plant that I am currently growing on the app Plant Nanny. For every cup of water I drink, I can water Dan and watch him sprout and bloom.

Watching Dan grow has been the highlight of my week. He is now a level four dandelion, and significantly larger than when I first planted him. Each cup of water brings him closer to leveling up to the next stage of his life. The more I drink, the happier he becomes.

One day I opened a container of cranberry juice and drank that throughout the day instead of water. I ended up drinking less than half of the water I was supposed to and, consequently, Dan became sad. Rather than his typical smiling face, he was frowning and drooping. Seeing my plant so upset was an awful feeling. I drank as much as possible just to make him happy again. He has not been unhappy since.

The free app makes forgetting to drink water impossible. It sends push notifications after long periods without water. Additionally, when you look at the closed app on your home screen, you can see what looks like a notification for that app: the number in red in the upper righthand corner. This number is the number of cups of water that you have left to drink that day.

This motivation to drink water has made me healthier than I have ever been, and because of this I have a healthy plant. Eventually, though, Dan will finish leveling up and have no more growing to do. At this point, Dan will be added to my collection of plants and I can start growing a new one.

Once Dan is fully mature, he will produce seeds. These seeds can be used to get more advanced plants than the starter dandelion or devil’s ivy. Cacti, roses, and other plants galore can be grown with the seeds that you produce and collect.

Of course, the app relies on honesty. You could easily say that you drank more water than you really did, but in doing that you miss out on the health benefits that come with the downloading of the app.

Without Dan in my life, I would still be drinking under half of the amount of water that I should be drinking daily. The free download of Plant Nanny has improved my health in the most adorable way possible.

Lauren Glase is the Media Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.