When I rebuilt the pond last summer, I established some very important rules.
1. No standing on the rocks on the edge. They aren't stable and it took me for-FREAKIN-ever to get them in place. No screwing it up.
2. No digging under the rocks. See above for justification, but add one more thing. There are frequently frogs hiding in the crevices between the rocks and you might squish one. Squishing frogs is bad.
3. Don't step on my plants, please and thank you. I planted some sturdy ground cover around most of the pond and it can take some abuse, but I'd rather we not abuse it. It's going to bloom soon and I'd really like to enjoy the fruits of my labor, y'know?
4. There is an actual path built around the "kid-friendly" sides of the pond. There's also a bench especially for the Tiny Human. Use the path and the bench. Enjoy them. They are happy!
Clearly Mila is doing a great job remembering those four basic rules.
I can't even be mad because the kid is just so darn happy when she's catching frogs. Each and every time she manages to trap one in her slimy palms, the reaction is just as joyous.
For the record, I have put tadpoles in the pond in previous years, but only ever bullfrog tadpoles and only a few of them. Any other variety of frog is a squatter. As of right now, I would estimate that there is one bullfrog and about 398410294 green frogs (they look a lot alike, but the internet has taught me how to tell them apart). That means there are 398410294 squatters who have every right to go squat somewhere else, but they've found their favorite place to be. They happen to have chosen a certain 6-year old's favorite place to be. She's not going away, so their decision to stay is consent to be tortured. Sort of.
I mean, I do try to get Mila to leave them alone. CLEARLY IT'S WORKING.
This is basically what the next five months are going to look like. Mila. Frogs. Joy.
I'm ready.