Kindergarten: Weeks 37 & 38

Gemma is now the owner of "Rose the Tadpole."

At Christmas, Gemma was given a frog habitat. The coupon that came with the habitat could be redeemed for a tadpole, but it was uncertain how long it would take for the tadpole to arrive. Because we go out of town often, I didn't want to order a tadpole that would arrive at an unspecified date. While looking into other tadpole options, I realized that at some point, if all went well, our tadpole would be a frog, and I didn't want to have to care for a frog.

I found a local aquarium shop that had leopard frog tadpoles (from Florida) and said that I could return the frog to the store after it metamorphosed.

The employees at the shop were very knowledgeable and explained to me that I needed algae wafers, water conditioner, and a submersible pump to oxygenate the water. Who knew raising a tadpole was so complicated? I also needed a little net ($1.99) to fish the tadpole out of its habitat once a week, to clean the habitat (with a paper towel).

If all goes well, Rose the Tadpole will metamorphose into Rose the Frog within three months.

Lots of our bulbs sprouted! We also have a pot of nasturtiums and a pot of lettuce.

Every day, a new rose blooms. 

We are reading two books right now - The Trumpet of the Swan and Avi's Poppy.

We spent a Saturday making erasers.

Gemma finished another round of swim lessons. She's still a Minnow, but she figured out how to do an underwater handstand.

We discovered two little mushrooms growing in a Venus fly trap pot...

...and one Venus fly trap is flowering!

So is the octopus plant!

Gemma turned SIX!

Happy birthday, my sweet girl!