Frog Licker

There is absolutely nothing surprising about the fact that Mila caught a frog yesterday. The surprise is that she did it one-handed. The kid was sitting by the pond with a popsicle taking up one hand and a good deal of her attention, when a frog quietly sauntered up next to her. She quickly grabbed it and began to try to convince it that they were best friends.

I'm not sure that she will ever convince any frogs of that fact. Her concept of "hugs" is just a little bit too aggressive, I imagine.

There was a lot of hugging after the one-handed frog capture. Mila sat next to the pond, with a frog in one hand and a popsicle in the other for a very long time. It was, in every way, exactly what summer should be when you're six years old.

But then I saw the whole thing go down. I was all the way upstairs in my office working and happened to look out the window at the exact right time. Mila went to lick her popsicle, but got confused about which hand was which, and DID NOT LICK THE POPSICLE.

Mila was not as concerned about the whole thing as I was. She went right back to enjoying life, not missing a single beat.

I missed a whole bunch of beats. Eventually I yelled out the window for Mila to put the frog back in the pond. that seemed like a good place to start, maybe? But noooooo ... Mila is Mila, so she was all, "But he's my friiiiiiend."

We argued for a moment before I did the thing that I'm positive my neighbors are judging me for. I can hope they didn't hear it, but the odds are not in my favor. Just before finally giving into my demands, Mila once again declared the frog her friend. And what did I yell at the TOP OF MY LUNGS for all to hear?

Oh, I yelled, "QUIT LICKING THE FROG, MILA."

That's great parenting right there.

Comments

[Erin]

Hopefully, this story will help.

Last fall my dog got skunked. BAD. My daughter didn’t notice until he was fully inside the house and then, it was too late.

It was almost 10pm, so I had been getting ready for bed when all this happened, so I was in my nighty, about to get into bed. My husband is running around, freaking out (helpful) and I quickly realized that I was going to have to help with the bathing and whatever we needed to do. So, with the dog in the room with me, I pushed the door shut to get back into regular clothes. As I’m doing that, husband comes in and snaps at me that I shouldn’t close the door, especially with the dog in there with me.

And with that, the last strand of my patience snapped and I screamed “I’m trying to put my bra back without the whole world watching!!!!!”

The next night, husband is talking to our neighbor, who had heard everything. sigh