A Grand and Mythical Creature

Ben and I (I being J(Ben's Dad)) were playing in the back yard yesterday, when we were met head on by a green monster from the swamp...it looked at us, blinked, flicked its tongue and then croaked at us. Ben had just had his first encounter with every boy's 'unicorn'...a frog.



"I hold it!! I hold it now!!!" was all I heard, so it was my turn to brush off those 20 years of rust in frog catching and show my little boy how it was done. After a little bit of wrangling and missed attempts we captured the beast.

Ben was quite intrigued to watch it hop in the jar we had imprisoned it in, he would jump and say "RIBBIT" as he watched with awe, then he repeated "I hold it!! I hold it NOW!!!!"



I gave him the run down of the frog safety tips...
1)Don't look it in the eyes
2)Don't squeeze it
3)Don't lick the frog pee of your hand
4)Don't kiss it, despite what Disney would have you believe it will not turn into a princess (I learned that the hard way)

He was now ready to fulfill his boyhood destiny by holding the frog. He reached his hand into the container and then...

The frog jumped at Ben with such might and determination that Ben pulled his hand back and his curiosity quickly turned to surprise and then terror as the frog went on the offensive with a mighty hop.





Through the sobs and looks of horror on his face I could still make out a broken "I hold it!! I hold it nowww".

We let our prisoner free and I'm sure we will be out hunting again next weekend.