Tree Frog

Ciaran could not be happier. Not only do we have two dozen tadpoles swimming around here in our home but now we have a tree frog as well. I have not lost my mind and agreed to a permanent new pet. I am however a soft hearted pushover of a mom and agreed to let him stay for a few days before we release him back into the wild. Had it been any other kind of a frog and I would have said no, let him play a bit and released him but tree frogs are different for Ciaran.

It was a tree frog that started all of this frog stuff for our family. We were on a camping trip and the kids were catching frogs. Ciaran was particularly good at it - he was three years old. He caught a tree frog and no one else was able to. Since then it has been all about frogs. I kept waiting for him to outgrow this but have now accepted it is unlikely to be outgrown and we have embraced frogs much the way we embrace and celebrate Star Wars in our home.

Back to the current tree frog. Our neighbor came over with a gift for Ciaran. He did ask me first before he showed Ciaran. Our neighbor went to grill his dinner tonight and to his surprise discovered a tree frog on his grill. He though of Ciaran and brought it over, everyone knows of his love for frogs. We had a terrarium in his closet and brought it down to use. Serona and I agreed he can keep the frog for a few days to observe but then he will have to release him. The terrarium will be fine for a short time, there is good water spots and climbing and hiding spots for the frog and we even agreed to buy a few crickets (a large stretch for Serona and I) so we can keep him for a few days. So Ciaran is estatic and his sisters are in on it as well.

They all got a turn to hold the frog and then have spent many long stretches this evening just sitting in front of the terrarium watching the frog. I pray we picked up a female and not a male as it is mating season and listening to a tree frog call all night might push me a bit.

This was a wonderful cap to a great day. We had friends come over to play this morning and early afternoon and the kids got to go on an exploratory hike and they even drew a map of the area they were exploring.

We missed out on our homeschool group first hike of the season. I organized a weekly playtime for the group this summer alternating weeks between hike days at local parks and beach days at local beaches. Good turnout I am told, 10 families and they had fun together. Looking forward to the next one.

I finally hear the sounds of silence now so I am off for some reading time for me. I am currently reading Book Two of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The kids current read alouds are Zooman Sam by Lois Lowry and Redwall.