Emily’s grandparents have a small pond at their place and every year Mr and Mrs Frog raise their babies there.  We usually try to time it right to experience the sheer joy of frog season.  I don’t know if you are familiar with how frogs work but Mrs Frog lays huge caches of gelatinous eggs which very quickly  hatch and turn into tadpoles and eventually frogs.  If you watch carefully, you get to see all of the steps in between tadpole and frog which might be the stuff of nightmares if you didn’t know better.  Seeing a pond full of tadpoles is simply amazing!  They swim so awkwardly and yet not.  When they start growing legs and losing their tails, things get really interesting.  It is an absolutely amazing transition and a lot of fun to witness!

Anyhow, we were around the pond last week and got to enjoy the tadpoles in the pond.  Abigail loves to catch them in her hand and sing to them.  She caught a few and while singing, spotted Mrs Frog.  Mrs Frog had a protective eye of course (we could tell) but seemed content to watch us watch her babies.  Of course, what are her options?  We don’t have ferocious frogs here in West-by-God-Virginia.

Abigail decided she wanted to give Mrs Frog a pat on the back, congratulating her on a job well done with her latest crop of babies.  She squatted at the edge of the pond (I had my camera ready fully expecting Abigail to fall into the water) and reached out to touch Mrs Frog.  With a flash, Mrs Frog leapt into the water upon feeling Abigail’s fingers.    She swam across the pond and under a rock where we could see her one back leg hanging out.  We decided to leave well enough alone and just watch from afar.  Spring is just the absolute best time of year!  There are so many opportunities to experience in the spring.  The Frog family delights us every year!