Lily Potter is back!!!

We have a pet frog and (I have to confess) we stole her!!...... But it will all make sense when I explain it.

Not long after we moved here 'Miss 5' became obsessed with frogs. Her favourite colour has always been green and a few weeks after we moved here she became really interested in frogs. She was looking up books with the librarian at the town library, looking for frogs in our garden and asking endless 'froggy' questions, "lets google it" became my standard response.

Why the sudden interest in all things frog, I'm not sure. Retrospectively it may have been something to occupy her time and inquisitive brain. A possible response to moving and being taken out of pre-school and stuck with Mum for almost another whole year, her thing as she watched her sister make new friends and start a new school. I'm not sure what was behind her all consuming obsession, but we ran with it!!

One afternoon it was late in the wet season and about 3 weeks in to this 'froggy' time that we were doing the usual thrice weekly mail pick up and ...... we hear "riddup riddup" coming from the post office. We investigate and discover a little slimy green bundle of joy on the windowsill, a little water on the hands and she was ours...."Lily Potter!!!" the kids exclaimed not only was she instantly claimed, she had also been named.

We did what any parents would do and bought her home and played with her... very responsibly. She was photographed on the kitchen table, she investigated the bathroom and found the bath, she climbed the shower screen and she sat on the window. For a few hours she was inside the house, a part of the family. The time came to place Lily back outside so we placed her up on the water tank where she could be safe from the dogs and viewed by 3 (or 5) pairs of keen eyes.

Lily's visit to our house

Lily didn't stay there long but has never been far from home. We have found her in the dog's water bowls more than once, on all sets of stairs, under the stairs, beside the dog's bed, back on the water tank, buried in the dirt, in the dryer and stuck to the wall  over the last year.  Master 2 is especially fond of Lily and on several occasions he has been discovered carrying Lily around randomly through the back yard and house. We suspect Lily is responsible for our only hospital visit (so far) after one such find when Master 2 had located Lily, carried her around too tight and may have subsequently rubbed frog wee in his eye causing an allergic reaction.... seriously. Lily's lack of finding safe hiding places has led to being called 'Silly Potter' on more than one occasion.

Lily hadn't been spotted in a long time and recently had prompted many Lily search expeditions. This is where 3 eager kids set off in search of the illusive green frog, checking all her usual haunts to no avail. ....until last Friday afternoon..... Lily was found on top on the strange water container in the front corner of our house. "Lily is back" was the sound I heard from 3 excited kids...."come and see Lily" was repeated until I put down the knitting to roll off the lounge and out of the air conditioning to find Lily is indeed back.

Lily is back

Since then Lily has been checked a few times a day.... just to make sure she is still there.... I dread what will happen when she moves, however in the last day she has been joined by another frog so she may hang around for a while... I hope she does she is a special part of our lives and ....'these beautiful days'.