Step Away from the Tadpoles with Your Hands Up!

The Tadpole Habitat
Looking into the Tadpoles' home
The tads enjoying a healthy lunch of frozen, soggy Romaine lettuce.
The tads still eating...note the growth of back legs!
A close up of one with back leg growth goin' on!!

I am supposed to be cleaning. I need to be cleaning. Randy thinks I'm cleaning. I'm not cleaning...yet. I'm going to clean, really. But first, I must confess...I'm obsessed with my (note the use of the SINGULAR POSSESSIVE 'my' as opposed to the plural possessive 'ours') tadpoles. And, as with many obsessions, it was never supposed to be this way!!! About 2 weeks ago, Randy went fishing on a Saturday(I posted pictures of the catch). That left me and the kids with another day stretching ahead of us. So, we took a walk through our neighborhood in search of tadpoles. We'd been having rain so the ditches were full. When I say we "took a walk" it really means that they rode their bikes while I carried a small bucket half full of water and tadpoles, 2 nets and the 80lb dog on her leash. The one thing I didn't have, but really wanted was my camera. Randy had it on his fishing trip.

Anyhoo...we collected a rather healthy amount of tadpoles and I managed to transport them, with only minor sloshing, to the safety of our driveway. At this point it was all still a very innocent undertaking. I thought it would be fun to see if we could watch their metamorphosis from tadpole to frog. So, Reed and I got online and read about how to care for them. I then scoured the garage looking for the perfect habitat...one of the totes used to hold Skipper's dog food was deemed perfect and I cleaned it up. Reed and I then went and filled a 5 gallon bucket with water and algae from the pond behind the house, lugged it back to the driveway and poured it in the newly renovated tote. We dumped the tadpoles into their new "home" and...it happened - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Mommy!

It's true - I'VE HIJACKED THE TADPOLES! From the moment they hit the "perfect habitat" I sweated over, the kids are allowed only minimal access (hands behind their backs and heavily supervised by psycho-mommy) and are lectured frequently on the dire consequences of PUTTING THEIR GRIMY HANDS IN MY POND SCUMMY TADPOLE WATER! And to make matters even more crazy, I go and check on the little guys at least 5 times a day. I've even been known to sit down on the driveway and just observe them. And yes, I freeze Romaine lettuce and feed them everyday...note again WHO feeds them...ME! I keep telling myself it isn't all that bad, but REALLY...I've even managed to work them into conversations with friends. Randy knows to nod appropriately with the daily tadpole update and that, in words from Star Trek, RESISTANCE IS FUTILE when I tell him to come and check out their progress. I think my saving grace is that they aren't going to be tadpoles forever (sniff, sniff) and soon they will absorb their tails and hop out of my life forever!!! And I'll be left mending fences with my poor, 2 legged Homo Sapiens!