Meet "Jumpity" ...

Yesterday we had a warm, gorgeous, sunny afternoon ~ and I went outside to begin the HUGE task of cleaning up our unsightly yard. We were out of town practically the entire month of March, and then I was sick for almost two weeks once we returned home. And after that, we had family in town and it was Easter, etc. So, yesterday was one of my first opportunities to get out the rakes and try to get to the bottom of our yucky flower beds and clean up all of those dead leaves that fell late last fall.
While I was raking the big flower bed we have on the south side of the garage, I was surprised by a jumping leaf ... that turned out to be ... this toad! Isn't he ... FAT ... and completely amazing!? I captured him and put him in my yellow bucket so that I could take him for "show and tell" at our Thursday morning MOPS class. I put a bunch of leaves and mud inside the bucket so that he could make himself comfortable overnight and then kept him outside in the garage to wait for morning.
I walked into our preschool MOPS class and put the bucket on the front table and waited for the children (ages 4-6) to arrive. I knew they would be excited to have a pet come to class, but I really did NOT anticipate the absolute GLEE they demonstrated over this one small, bumpy, mud-colored creature! They loved hearing about how he had buried himself in the mud inside his bucket ... and that's where he slept ALL night! "Uck! He slept in the mud?!"
We had 10 children this morning ~ 3 boys and 7 girls. Everyone got in on the action! We have a 2.5 hour class time and I am not exaggerating when I tell you that we played with this toad for a solid hour! I then walked it down the hallway to the 3-year-old class and sat down with about a dozen 3's for 10 minutes while they all touched our little friend. One of the children in the 3's class thought we really should name him and then came up with Jumpity for the name. When I brought him back to my group, we continued to dote on this little fellow ...
This is Kaden. He is six. He absolutely loved playing with Jumpity. Pretty soon, everyone was all lined up again to take a turn holding him, shaking his hands, touching his tummy, feeling his bumps ...
The squeals of laughter could be heard all the way down the hall (so I'm told). What a fun morning!

We're home now from MOPS. I've returned Jumpity to the flower bed from whence he came. Look how his colors blend in with the rocks and dirt and dead leaves ... isn't he cool?

[Toad n: any of numerous tailless leaping amphibians differing typically from the related frogs in having a shorter stockier build, rough dry warty skin, and less aquatic habits.]