Lifelong Learning

I love learning new things. It's probably safe to say that every day I do this, but maybe don't always recognize it. One of my favorite things I've learned (or, quite possibly, re-learned) this summer is that there *is* such a thing as baby frogs. I used to think that there were no baby frogs, but only tadpoles. And then when they dropped the tails and grew their legs, they emerged from the water fully grown. This summer I have learned that they still have a lot of growing left to do upon leaving the water, and that there are, indeed, baby frogs. Or perhaps toddler frogs?

On one of my early morning runs I almost stepped on a bug, but happened to notice its interesting shape. Almost like a little microscopic frog. I stopped and found four of them. No bigger than my pinky fingernail, these little black frogs were so tiny they easily could be mistaken for bugs. It was the most incredible thing.

Just the other day we located a baby toad in our front yard, and Gavin had a great time playing with him. Benjamin had a great time looking through our reptile guide to locate said toad. None of the photos matched, exactly, but we decided that perhaps the coloring changes as baby toads mature into grown toads? Gavin informed me that this is, without a doubt, an American Toad. So it will be.