Year-End Update 2024

Hello from the current crew: Roly-Poly, Monarch, Hippo, Dalmatian, Mouse, and Fox! We have had several transitions and changes since our last post in July! Let's start with the goodbyes:

Polar Bear and Seal moved away to South Carolina with their family right after Labor Day. 😢 They are very missed, and we enjoy seeing family updates of their new journey and also their precious, sweet smiles on Facebook. They are very special kiddos, and we are thankful for the season they were here!

We had an unexpected and very short time with our little friend Guinea Pig. Her mom found out that she was expecting twins and made the necessary decision to stay home with all her girls. We had our last day with her on November 21st, and the twins were born 10 weeks early, right before Christmas! We will miss the fun-spirit and imagination of sweet Guinea Pig! She was a great, little friend to Monarch, Hippo, and Dalmatian.

We also saw Sea Horse off to school in August. Now that she's 5 she's started the new adventure of Kindergarten. We have had a few visits with her since then with snow days and holiday breaks, but miss seeing her big grin and adventurous, creative spunk on a daily basis. Once again, we are thankful for being able to keep in touch with them and do drop-in care. She's growing up so fast!

After saying our four goodbyes, we said four hellos to new friends beginning in August through the month of December! Let me introduce all of them:

Our first addition to the cub family is Alpaca! He started care at 18 months old, in August, shortly before Polar Bear and Seal moved away. Their families are actually good friends of each other, and we have him in our care on Wednesdays. He is a sweet and fun toddler who loves snacks and playing with Monarch and Mouse every week. His vocabulary has picked up since he started care, and he asks for his special buddies even when he's not here! 😆

In September, we started care with Porcupine, who is the little sister to Hippo. She has joined us three days a week, along with her brother, and has a head full of spikey, dark hair. Her brother is super sweet and protective of her as well. She is now 6 months old and a petite, sweet snuggle baby. It's been a lot of fun to have a little one again. Roly-Poly is now 10 months old and walking, so it's fun to see them grow up together with such different personalities.

Trout is another new friend who started care in November. He is now 20 months old and a very smiley guy! He also loves to dance and starts flopping his arms and body around whenever we play bouncy music. He's starting his 2 year-old stage already and just lays down on the floor if he doesn't want to go along with someone's direction or plan. 😂 He's a busy toddler and we've enjoyed having him here!

Our most recent addition to the crew, Manatee, joined us in December. He is a big and very strong 7 month old who comes on Fridays. His family is also friends with Polar Bear and Seal's family, so we are very thankful to have him here! We are still getting familiar with his schedule and personality traits, but he's definitely in the process of getting teeth and scooting around more each time he comes! He had a bit of tummy trouble right before our Christmas break, but we managed to capture this cute picture of him shortly beforehand. 

As we close out this year, there is one last thing I'd like to share. We applied for a grant in May of this year to help replace our old deck which had several rotting boards. We were approved in July and able to have the deck completed in October right before our first big snowstorm this year and also before the busy holidays. Our new deck is now a cozy and safer space for us to walk on as we transition to the backyard for our playtimes. We are so grateful for all this year has brought us, even through all the transitions. We look forward to the new year and all the new surprises it will bring!

Little Boys, Babies, and Blessings

How does nearly 7 months go by just like that?  Haha... Once again, we are due for an update!

Two sweet boys joined our crew earlier this year in January.  Both boys are super shy and took a little time to adjust to being in our care. Llama joined us several times with drop-in care January through March, and he recently turned 2 years old in April. He is a super sweet little guy with big, expressive eyes and likes to climb on things with a cute, little smirk on his face. We hope to have him again in the fall for some more visits, but currently his grandparents and aunt are helping out with his care.

Llama

Fox is an adorable red head that comes on Fridays. He loves to have his blanket nearby, play magnets, and often likes to show off his jumps. He also signs for Mom and Dad a few times a day to let us know he misses them and has gotten quite used to our busy crew. Since he turned 2 in May, his vocabulary has blossomed quite a bit, and we've enjoyed having him here!

Fox

We've had several more changes in our pride in the past few months. In May, we started care for a 3 month old baby girl named Roly-Poly. We call her this because she already knew how to roll from her back to tummy, but still can't quite roll back now that she's 5 months old. She easily gets frustrated, but definitely wants to be on the move and is super wiggly when being held. She's curious, engaged, and very intrigued by everything around her. She also is very cuddly when it comes to naptime and wants to often be snuggled or holding a hand to know you are nearby. 

Roly-Poly

We also started care for Seal on July 15th. She is the sister of Polar Bear and is 3 months old. She will be with us for a short time since her and her family will be moving to South Carolina sometime in August or September. Roly-Poly and Seal's families are very close friends and having both babies together is pretty special! Seal is still adjusting to daycare since she is a nursing baby and has trouble taking bottles. Mom is coming to feed her every few hours as needed to help us out with the transition. She gives us the best smiles though in between the fussy moments when she's hungry or tired. 

Baby Seal

Glad I have my daughters to help hold these two precious little ones!

Roly-Poly and Seal

Polar Bear, the babies, and Monarch

K-bird and Roly-Poly

Rabbit and Seal

In addition to Seal starting in July, we also began care for 5 year old Dalmatian in June and little Guinea Pig on July 15tth. They both come 2 days per week and have been a lot of fun to have around. Dalmatian loves rescue vehicles and heroes, so we thought his name would be appropriate since you often find Dalmatians in a firehouse. He loves to tell jokes and has the best laugh. He's also very good with the babies and helps out quite a bit when he's here. His mom requested that pictures not be posted of him, so we gave him some cool sunglasses to fit his cool personality!

Dalmatian

Guinea Pig is 2 years old and is very verbal and tall for her age. She loves to ask me what various animals say and also what the farmer and tractor says. She calls her mom by her first name and kept calling me Mister Karen the first day she was here. I also love that she tells me she's "texting her mom and dad." She's quite advanced for her age and fits right in with Sea Horse and Monarch.

Guinea Pig

We've also said a few goodbyes this year. Hummingbird's mom had a baby sister in February, so she no longer needed care. Thankfully, we have been able to keep in touch with their family and see them on occasion. Moose also said goodbye (and we'll keep in touch) at the end of May. Mom is a teacher and had the summer off to take care of him and Platypus. She will begin teaching a part-time position in the fall at Platypus' school and Moose will also begin preschool there. It was a great change for their family, but we will miss having them around, especially since they have been with us for 4 years!

Hummingbird's last day

Moose's last day

Saying Goodbyes to LPC friends

and Kangaroo

Overall, we are busy enjoying the all the precious kiddos we have in our care and are thankful for the warm weather and rain we've had this summer. It makes the grass greener and our playtime adventures outside have been super enjoyable. In closing, here are group pics of our crazy crew of over the past several months!

We look forward to what the second half of 2024 will bring!

Until next time....

2023 End of Year Update

Wow! It's hard to believe another year has come and gone! 

Time for a little update to wrap up 2023:

Every season brings about change. As usual, we had some changes during our fall season.  We said goodbye to our friend Snow Leopard as her family moved to Texas in July to begin a new journey. It's amazing how some relationships with your clients can grow into a friendship over the years, and this family definitely fits into that category. We watched little Snow Leopard grow from age 2 to a blossoming 5 years old and also beginning Kindergarten this year! We had a recent visit with them as they were in town visiting family for Christmas. It was a special time to give hugs to Snow Leopard and her baby sister.

Speaking of 5 year-olds, we also finished up care with Kinkajou as she headed off to school in August. Both Snow Leopard and Kinkajou were my "drop-in" girls, and it was a pleasure to care for them both over the years. They both were very excited to start school this year and as usual it's hard to believe how quickly they grew up! Here are some pictures we took on Kinkajou's last day with us:

One of our grown up cubs, Piglet, came for drop-in care at the end of July and has also come a few extra days since then when she didn't have school. It's been crazy to see how much she has learned and grown over the years as well. She recently turned 7, which really blows my mind! She has a very nurturing spirit and has been super helpful when she visits, especially with the little ones. She had a special walk with us and Sea Horse one fall day that she came. It was a great memory we shared with the girls.

Our last update is about about 3 year old Platypus. She was on a wait list for preschool at Pikes Peak Christian School for the 2023 school year and a spot opened up for her near the end of September. She leaves her brother Moose behind at daycare, but is blossoming and growing in her new atmosphere. We are super happy for her! We've missed having her here, but have had some visits at pickup time and drop-in days when she doesn't have school. We get great big hugs when we see her and earfuls of information during our visits. One of those visits was around Halloween when she was dressed up as a mouse from the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. She turned 4 in December which is so hard to believe since we've had her here since birth.

Now for an update on our cubs who are still with us! We are currently in the walking, talking, sharing, learning, and growing stage of toddlerhood. Seahorse is now the oldest one at 4.5 years and does great helping us out with the younger ones. Her imagination is soaring right now, and we cherish the time we have with her until she heads off to school next August. We also have the 3 year-olds Hippo and Hummingbird, 2 year-olds Moose and Monarch, and 18 month old Polar Bear. 

Our newest little friend, Mouse, recently joined our den a few weeks before Christmas and she is an adorable 15 month old. Her mamma sent me a picture of her on Christmas day, so I thought I'd share it here to capture her personality. She is a very sweet and easy going toddler and comes one day a week. We picked her name because of how quiet, cute, and chill she is! It just seemed to fit her well.

We had a fun time right before Christmas as Sea Horse declared the day before break as a Christmas Jammie Party, so I will also include some pictures of that day as well. It was a super festive time and great way to get us into the holiday spirit!

We are excited for next year as we continue to care for our little friends, get to know Mouse more, and have some new cubs growing in their mammas tummies! We will have new little ones join our crew in May and July for a new season of having babies around. More to come later, but until then, we keep plenty busy with our current troop and are thankful for each day that our adventure brings.