Tolo

Meet Tolo.

The boys found Tolo (who later underwent the great name transformation to become ToTo--say this with great emphasis on the T's, otherwise you have absolutely, most definitely said it wrong. Just ask Drew who corrected me on this nearly every time I said it).

Tolo recently spent an entire afternoon being well loved (harassed?) by two very enthusiastic boys who happened to come upon his hiding spot while playing baseball in the yard. You see, the boys had taken a break from playing in the kiddie pool to play when a "foul" ball landed in the midst of the mint plant under the lemon tree in the backyard. Well, when they went to retrieve their ball, they stumbled upon Tolo (poor Tolo). You should have heard them squeal. "Mom, MOM! We found a TOAD! Can we play with it?? Can it swim in the kiddie pool with us??" Clearly, their baseball game had just been forfeited. 

This poor toad provided hours of entertainment for the boys. So much so, that I finally had to ask Drew to put Tolo in one of the planter pots on the patio to give him a break for a bit (I was starting to feel sorry for dear, sweet Tolo). Fortunately, he was more than willing to do this so long as the planter was within eyesight of where he was swimming so he could maintain contact with his amphibious friend at all times. Logical.

Although Tolo did get a few breaks, throughout the day there was plenty of showing off and sharing of Tolo (I never thought I would be asking a 4 year old to stop sharing....but these were exactly the words I found myself uttering as Drew set that slimy thing down on my leg so that I could have a turn).

There were swimming excursions in the kiddie pool....

There was the "island" that we eventually gave Tolo. Again, I was afraid if the boys didn't give their new friend a break from all the swimming that we might end up with a much less lively (read: dead) froggy friend.

There was the game of watch Tolo jump into the water, that the island slowly became (eh, my island intentions were good)...

There was sharing with Collin....

 who was a much more willing participant in the great game of sharing dear Tolo than I was.

...although I did have to laugh because at first, any time Tolo moved, this was Collin's reaction.

There was mimicking Tolo...

...fascination with Tolo...

...scolding Tolo for trying to hop away (how dare you Tolo, I mean, really??!)

...and of course there was "cuddling" (??!) Tolo....for that is indeed exactly what they told me they were doing...

But most of all, there was bliss...

...Pure, found something gross-squishy-and-best-of-all-alive little boy bliss!

 Priceless!