From Tadpole to Frog

I picked Mary Ellis up out of her crib this morning, cuddled her close to me, kissed her sweet face, and said, “Good morning, My Love.” “I want to go to the playground,” she replied, “I want to go RIGHT NOW.”  “Okay,” I answered, “Let’s eat some breakfast first.” “I want to eat outside,” she informed me.

Message received.  My girls like to play…outside…as much as possible.  Today I decided to live on the edge and take them to a school playground.  It’s one of their favorites.  There is a slide that is approximately 500 feet tall.  They enjoy crowding and pushing one another on the 500 steps as they race to the top and I have a panic attack.  But I read somewhere that you aren’t supposed to project fear so I smile and say things like, “I really like how carefully you are climbing.”

There is also a man-made pond where the students are raising tadpoles.  The Tiny Toe Trifecta can stare at them for hours (ok, it’s more like 10 to 15 minutes, but in three year old time, it’s like hours).  “Can we take them home, Mommy?” Hendley asks.  I don’t know the first thing about raising tadpoles.  The teacher in me can’t resist.  “We’ll come back tomorrow with our nets and try to catch some,” I answer. This satisfies them.  We leave the pond and move to the greenhouse where there is a dead spider trapped in glass. 

So, while the girls were napping today (and they did nap today), I did a little research.  For me, extensive research involves typing a question into Google.  I perused several websites and found one that I felt answered most of my questions.  

http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/tadpoles/index.html

So, tomorrow we are going to return to the little pond with some nets and, hopefully, catch some tadpoles!  Do any of you have experience raising tadpoles?  If so, I would love to hear about it.