Toads & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Cute toad is cute, originally uploaded by Marji Beach.

Pike met his first toad this morning. It had been raining gently overnight, and there was a little toad hopping away from the driveway when I brought him out to get in the car. I scooped it up (okay, after chasing it down for a minute... they hop fast) and showed Pike. He seemed amused by my excitement if not by the toad itself. I think I was grinning like an idiot, so he felt that it would be polite to grin back.

Then I washed my hands up and got us on our way, but it was still super neat. I kept toads in a pen in our backyard when I was little, so they're one of my favorite kinds of critter :)