Meet Oscar!

Do you remember that poem about little boys? The one that says "snakes and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of". I guess I should be grateful that we don't have a snake.

Meet Oscar. He is the newest addition to the family. We have managed over the last 11 years to get away with only having a dog and occasionally a fish. When we were in Island Park with my family this summer, Oscar managed to get himself into the window well of my sister's bedroom. Brett and Parker rescued him from the window well and decided that he should come with us. I tried to put my foot down. There was foot stomping, crying, complaining and finally threatening (if he gets out in the house he's out of here!), but the boys won and the toad (safe and snug in his cool-whip container) came home with us. When we got home the toad was set up in an old fish bowl (remember the fish I mentioned that we have had over the years). He looked pretty sickly and he didn't move around very much and I was convinced that before we could get a proper aquarium to keep him in, we would, well, CROAK! No such luck. One night, Oscar perked up. He managed to escape his humble little fish bowl. He jumped from the shelf to Parker's train table and down to the floor where he tried to make a break for it. Not knowing the quickest way to the nearest exit, Oscar managed to find himself in our bedroom. As luck would have it, around 2:00 in the morning I woke up. On my way back to bed, my foot touched something that MOVED! I leaped onto the bed which woke Brett up. I informed him that I had stepped on something that moved. He got up to investigate (he's a good guy that way!) and sure enough the toad was AWOL. We woke Parker up and the search began. Luckily we found him quickly and he was banished to the bathtub (much to Casadie's distress) until a suitable home was acquired for him. He know happily resides in an aquarium on the dresser in Parker's room where he is growing fat on grasshoppers. I am sad to report that he looks extremely healthy. Since the addition of Oscar, we have also acquired a caterpillar, two preying mantis and a tad pole. I am told that this is just what boys do!