When we first moved into the new home, Ricky’s biggest complaint was that our backyard was dull and empty. We have been working on filling it up – a pool, swing set, etc – but it does lack the bushes and “Daisy Forest” of our previous backyard. I tried to comfort him by telling him eventually we would add more, but not this summer.
He still found things to entertain himself, but nothing was quite so good as the toads. The boys had randomly seen a few, but they found a nest inside a sprinkler control box where they could almost always find 2, 3, or even 4 toads. Jack-pot!
They would spend hours outside playing with these toads. Building habitats, racing them, just carrying them around and talking to them …
The toads they found most were just small things, but they gave me the willies and I told the boys to keep them far from me. Tommy only brought a toad into the house once … and I think my screech scared him enough to not try it again! I don’t know what I had against these little guys, but I don’t like them! I’m more of a BIG toad kind of girl and those only come out at night …
We only had one known tragedy with our toads. Tommy was playing with his on the swing set and took it down the slide. Sadly, Tommy fell off the slide and the toad … well, the toad didn’t make it. No tears were shed but the toad received a nice burial.