TGT: Frances's Froggy Friends

Monday, while we were tidying up the backyard--or, all right, as Erik was tidying up the backyard--in acknowledgement of the winding down of summer, he came upon a small grey frog hiding in the shadow of the bag of potting soil. Before meeting the frogs of this neighbourhood, incidentally, I had no idea adult frogs could be this small. Today's was just about as long as the outer joint of my thumb.

Frances loves frogs not only on their own account these days, but also because she's seen that Max and Ruby episode a few too many times--the one where Max makes friends with a frog, and calls him "friend!" Only Ruby can't see the frog and thinks Max is talking to an imaginary friend, and hijinks ensue. So the poor frogs, in addition to having to deal with a gigantic (to their view) person stalking them all over the deck gibbering excitedly, also are blasted with "FRIEND!" whenever they are spotted. Cruel, but cute.

Frances, at two-and-three-quarters (I am trying to induce her to say this, but so far she still insists she's two-and-a-half) is a pro with the frogs. She knows how to hold her hands together to make a good platform for froggy feet, and how to hold still so they won't jump away; today, she figured out how to pick them up. This is significant not only in terms of her frog-chasing development but also because it gave me a chance to whip out the camera and take a few shots.

I won't post the ones showing her face, so you'll have to take my word for it: the expression of overwrought wonder is priceless: the mouth rounded into a perfect O, the huge blue eyes round, the fixed interest, the tiny grey frog trembling in the foreground. It was one of the kinds with sticky pads on its feet, so when Frances would go to put it down and turn her hand over to dislodge it, it remained there, stuck to her, upside down.

The rest of the day she asked to go outside and hold her friend the frog again. I'm not sure the frog felt quite so positively about their little interaction, however, so when she was distracted I put him down in a garden near the deck where he could hide himself.

~~~~~

I am just about to give up on the back garden.

It's not that nothing will grow there, it's that it all gets eaten. About half of the perennials I put in over the spring and summer are still there, the rest were hauled up by the roots and carried off by one critter or another as dinner. The doves even roost in my flower boxes (which explains those large, bare hollows in the dirt). And I probably could devise a way to keep the animals out, but why would I? The animals are why I like the backyard so much to begin with. Not to mention Frances's attachments to the squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and frogs.

I have the winter to think about it, but at the very least I have a new requirement to add to next spring's garden shopping list: inedible.

Posted by Andrea at September 5, 2006 3:08 AM under The Green Toddler

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