Toad with a nose?

Unlike our recent Yellowstone adventure where we encountered an amazing number of animals, our past weekend adventure led us to see only one black tail deer, a salamander, and this toad.

I actually happened to be riding my bike on our Sunday trail when this little fella jumped across my path. I am so glad I did not run him over.  We stopped to snap a picture.

Look closely - does he actually have a nose?  And look at alllllllll those bumps. He definitely blends into his environment of gravel and tree bark.

This frog made me think about what happened during this short start of the week.

My son has the same teacher for this Fourth Grade year as my daughter had in Third, and looped into, Fourth. She is a great teacher who really connects with her students. But part of the downside is that my son feels like it is not "his" classroom yet. He knows a lot about how this year will work. 

We have tried diligently to erase the memory of my daughter's experience in the same room. She has done well at stopping short of saying too often, "Oh I remember that ..." or giving her advice and tidbits on everything.  We are trying to make it new for him - as really it will be an entirely new experience because the two of them are individuals. But a nine-year old perspective doesn't really see it that way.

On Monday, my son's classmate happened to bring a wild frog to class.  Complete with a Mason Jar habitat.  However, the wise teacher over ruled the class' excitement in keeping this wild critter and said it could stay for just the day, and then it would need to be released back to the woods after school.  That got my son's wheels spinning.

He ran into the house on Monday after piano lessons were complete and asked if he could offer his unused fish tank to his class in hopes of getting a class fish from the pet store. I thought that was a wonderful idea since it is collecting space under his bathroom sink; and I could really use that area would make the Fourth Grade experience definitely unique for him.

My son was raring to go talk to his teacher on Tuesday morning. Coming out of school with a HUGE smile on is face and a sparkle of achievement in his eye confirmed that his teacher also said YES to the idea.  The process will now begin on class research, voting, and procurement of the new class pet. 

Critters.  Wild or store bought brings happy to Fourth Grade. And I think that Toad really does have a nose!