New Hellos and Even More Goodbyes

Once again, the past few months have brought some changes and transitions in the den. I think we are learning that this is a more common thing than we anticipated since people's lives and circumstances can change pretty quickly. We've said some new hellos and some unexpected goodbyes in the past few months, so let's see if we can get things up to speed for anyone interested.

HELLOS.... Kitten, Pony, and Duck!   

(A Mini-Farm in the Den)

Kitten

As mentioned in a previous post, Kitten, also know by her mama as Pickle and Puggle, has returned to the den and comes two days a week. We've enjoyed having her two-year old spirit and excitement in our home again. She is a very diligent and committed fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and says "Oh, I'm coming, I'm coming" if she hears the music from the show (not surprising, since her mom used to work for Disney World). She also calls K-bird and Rabbit "lady" when she can't remember their names. My name has suddenly become Karen's House. Otter was very taken to Kitten when she arrived and showered her with lots of hugs and kisses. They became best buds very quickly.

Pony

We had an interview at the end of August for a 14-month old, and he joined our daily crew just a few days later. He is one month older than Wallaby, but also a bit smaller. He even has more hair, but that's what inspired his name. Pony has a small tuft of hair that covers his forehead like a horse. His petite nature, strength, and way that he nods his head back and forth reminds us of a pony. He loves to either climb over, onto, or into things or sit in my lap and cuddle with his pacifier and cow blanket. He and Wallaby have had some adjusting to do in sharing toys with each other and learning how to get along, but I think they are becoming quite used to each other now by the way they greet each other each morning when Pony arrives.

 

Duck

In March of this year, I completed additional training for infants and toddlers in order to obtain my three under two specialty license for daycare. I had a home visit in July to submit my new license capacity and expected approval within a few weeks. In August, I was referred to a new family with a 9-month old little girl needing part-time care on a daily basis. I had to pull a few strings to figure out the delay in my new license approval, but it came just in time to start care with little Duck just after Labor Day. She received her name because of her cute little cackle when she laughs, so we often call her "Affy Duck" since her real name starts with A!

She stays very busy crawling around, pulling herself up, and playing with toys. She is on the verge of taking her first steps as well, and just turned a year old. Her hair is growing longer in the front than in the back, so she has these cute little curls coming in around her face. I think her three favorite things are her blanket, noodles (oh my, does she love noodles), and playing in the sand. She has laughed with delight each time we've tried out the sandbox.

T-Rex

Do I have your attention now? I know it doesn't quite fit the farm theme here, but we'd like to give an honorable mention to T-Rex who was with us for about a month from August until the end of September. He was with us part-time for awhile and the first time I met him he told me "I'm a T-Rex", so it just seemed to fit. He was almost three and full of energy. He loved to play with trains and built a "Dinosaur Train" out of blocks. It was super creative, so I thought I'd post a picture of his hard work. I think his train is really cool...  Although his time here was short, we enjoyed playing and interacting with him.

GOODBYES.... Otter and Panda

We recently celebrated the fact that Otter was with us a full year! However, his mom has transitioned into working from home now. Though we are very, very sad to see him go, we are very, very glad that he can be at home with his awesome mama! We miss him so much already. He knew and understood so much and would have pretty mature and in-depth conversations with us as a two-year old. I know he will be a great communicator when he grows up because his mom communicates with him very effectively.

I will miss how Otter loved to play puzzles on my phone and the way he sucked his fingers by holding his arm in place. Most of all, I will miss his daily routine of shooting cars off the piano table and into a big pile on the floor. He would occupy himself with that activity for 15 minutes or more and create a huge mess to clean up at the end of the day :) In fact, one of his last days here, I asked him to help pick up the cars and he quickly said, "No, I'm too tired." He did help after some coaxing, but it was a little comical coming from a two-year old.

Panda's time here with us was very short. As you know she came under our wing this past summer, but as of mid-October, she is staying home with her mom for awhile while she considers other possibilities for her work situation.

Panda brought a lot of life and energy into our home. She was constantly on the move from one activity to the next. She was great at making messes and good a picking them up as well. She loved playing with puzzles, coloring, stickers and the makeshift fishing game with wooden spoons.

I remember her early days here when she was very shy and had to adjust to being away from home for the first time. She would ask all day long "Mommy, Daddy coming?". Towards the end of her stay here, she was very comfortable with us and didn't have to ask about Mom and Dad anymore. She knew they would come, and she knew how to make the most of her time here.

I will miss her bright eyes and curly, black hair and her helpfulness in letting me know what trouble Ace was into or what the babies were doing. She was very gentle with the little ones and quick to share toys with them. She will be a great leader someday based on her attentiveness and the determination she demonstrates even now at a young age.

Blessings to you, Panda and Otter, as you move on to a new season in your lives. We are so thankful for the time that we had with you in our home!

Meet Our Cubs - Season 3

This slideshow has been a long time in the making. Ever since we made our first slideshow, we have enjoyed making slideshows to remember the cubs we all had at the same time, hence the word seasons. Here is a slideshow to document and commemorate our time with Meerkat, Otter, Wallaby, Flamingo, Penguin, Kitten, and Puppy. While Meerkat, Otter, Flamingo, and Penguin have moved on to other opportunities and "seasons" in their life, we very much enjoyed the season we had with them. We love all of you very much!
 

Since we've had some more transition in the last month, Season 4 will be soon to come!

Memories of Meerkat

Here are some fun pictures of our visit with Meerkat back in May when we said some goodbyes and found out he would be home with mom for awhile. Since this day, we have had a few visits with him which has been nice since their family still lives here in town and sometimes watches our beloved Ace who was born and nurtured in their home on October 20, 2012. This collage is in celebration of a year with Ace and the dear family who gave him to us! 

Meerkat and "Acers" have brought many adventures and good times for our family. Our most favorite memories we have of Meerkat are his belly laugh and the way he would say "I am Iron Man" in a very gutteral voice for a toddler. The one memory we will treasure always is how he sat on Lion's lap on a daily basis to watch trains. Thomas the Tank Engine and diesels were his top requests. Ace, on the other had, has also given us many stories to tell as we've experienced the journey of puppyhood. But, that would take a whole separate blog. Let's just say... we've learned to hide all the cubs shoes :)

Pandamania!

We are so happy to welcome a little Panda to our group of kids. Panda started care with us on June 5th and comes two - three days per week. She is part-Korean and part-Mexican with beautiful big eyes. She is a busy potty-trained 2 1/2 year old and has the best smile ever! She gets shy very easily when someone starts to chat with her and quickly puts her arm over her eyes to hide. However, she immediately gets interactive with them in hiding and having them seek her out to have some fun.

Her first few days were rough for her since she was used to being home with mom most of the time, but she has really adapted well since then. She comes each day with a smile on her face and ready to play. She has a lot of enthusiasm for play time, especially when it involves playing in the water outside. That is her favorite activity in addition to puzzle time. She plays hard each morning and naps hard each afternoon. She loves to dump out the bucket of toys and use the bucket for other purposes. She is awesome at pick-up time to put all the toys back where they belong in a quick manner. All throughout her day she randomly says "Daddy comin'?" just to be reassured that she will see him soon.

Because her days rotate each week, she has the privilege to play with Otter and Deer on a regular basis. Otter loves to hold up the plastic animals and tell Panda the names of each one. Deer and Panda enjoy coloring together and playing with the toys. It's a lot of fun to see the interaction between each of them and have them play so well together. Panda is also very gentle and considerate of Wallaby since he is the smallest of our troop.

On a side note, Meerkat is not currently with us. He stopped coming a few months ago because his mom is in the process of a job transition. We are hoping that he will return someday because we miss his exuberance. We had an opportunity to watch him recently, and he was so excited to hang out with us for awhile. His laugh is contagious.

Puppy still comes on occasion and Kitten will be starting back up with us two days a week in August because her current provider is moving. A lot of changes in the den, but we are very happy with the kids we have each day and enjoy the special memories we are creating with them.

Deer is Here!

We are happy to announce that we found a cub that fits the deer name, well, she found us actually. Her mom was referred to us by another client, and they just recently relocated to the Springs. Several months ago we posted about driving through an area near town that has lots of deer. This family actually lives somewhat near that area. On the night of our interview, this little girl asked me to color for her, so I started to draw the sun.

She then asked me to draw the moon and stars. I willingly complied and then asked her what to draw next. She quickly asked me to draw a deer. I was quite surprised since not many two-year olds ask you to draw a deer. I looked at her mom quizzically, and she explained that they often had deer come onto her property. Boy, let me tell you, I am not talented at all in drawing a deer, but she seemed satisfied enough at my feeble attempt.

So Deer it is.... It also sees to fit her quiet, compliant, observant, and "dear" personality. She only comes once a week, so the name also fits in that regard since deer in general can be consistent in being seen, yet random in how often. We have really enjoyed getting to know Deer, and she is a lot of fun. Most of all, my favorite thing about her is how she has adopted the name "Auntie" for me which is super "dear" to my heart! Welcome to our den, Deer!

Seasons Change (Quickly)

We have been wanting to update the blog for quite some time now, but time just got away from us once again. We've had lots of fun interacting with our cubs the past few months, and they have kept us super busy. We are thankful that spring finally seems to be right around the corner, and we have been taking advantage of the opportunity to get outside on the recent warmer days.

 

 

It seems like just a short time ago that we welcomed Flamingo and Penguin into our home. Well, two weeks ago we found out that they will be moving out of state because of a new job offer that their dad received. April 26th was their last day, and we had an enjoyable time laughing and playing with them. Wish we could have updated the blog a lot sooner, but here are some of the highlights that we will remember in having the girls in our home.

One of Flamingo's favorite things to do was play Bowling games with us on the Wii. She would get super competitive with each of us, and especially loved getting strikes. She also loved to play fashion puzzles, playdoh, outside, and have craft time, especially when Puppy came over. We especially enjoyed making snowmen and kites to decorate our door. Most importatly, she was an awesome helper with the little kids and very eager to serve. She would often jump to her feet to help out before being asked and was very perceptive in anticipating other people's needs around her. I'm sure Meerkat will miss his playmate and Otter will miss giving his many hugs and kisses away.

 

 

On their final day, Flamingo came with her long, curly hair down instead of in the usual braids. It was fun to watch her hair free-flow and wave around as she was super active in laughing, helping, singing, walking on tiptoe, and trying to take down the ever-strong Keegaroo in a final afternoon show down. She also showed off her special ring that her imaginary husband Rihad gave her.

Penguin will be dearly remembered as well. She LOVED snack time and often expressed her need by saying "uh, uh" and pointing to the snack stash. She would often walk around with her cheerio cup and leave a little trail behind her. She was very good at smearing yogurt all over the place at lunch time and had an infectious laugh. Her favorite thing to do, aside from snack time, was to give sweet little kisses to Wallaby on a regular basis. We love how she was just learning new words like "Yesh", "Acesh", and "Baby". Let's not forget the ever famous "Burrrrr", which is how she asked for her bottle.

We will be working on getting a Season 3 slideshow put together soon in order to capture some of the fun times we've had the girls and guys, but in the meantime we hope you enjoy the pictures we've posted of their last few days with us. We are so thankful that Flamingo and Penguin were in our home for this season and that they have joined our lasting legacy of lovable little ones! Lots of love and blessings to you and your family as you venture on a new journey!

 

 

Recent Reunions

We had the wonderful opportunity to visit with Brown Bear and his family recently. He has grown up so much, but once again we enjoyed hearing him laugh and show off his unique personality.

 

Also, Turtle and Monkey showed up one day to pick up Rabbit for a special dance that they were going to together. We took advantage of the opportunity and snapped a quick shot of my kids, the current cubs and two of our former cubs all together. It was a pretty special moment on a very sunny day.

New Faces, Flamingo and Penguin

We are pleased to introduce Flamingo and Penguin as the newest members of Lion's Pride Den.  I wanted to introduce them sooner, but things have been very busy with the holidays. We were also in full swing last month picking up Puppy from school while her dad was away. He has since returned, Puppy is back in school, and we still have occasional visits with her. We started care for our new cubs on November 26, 2012. They have a rotating schedule and come 31 hours one week and 11 hours the following week.  We seem to be normalizing now that Christmas is over, and we've gotten adjusted to the new changes in our schedule. 

We are very thrilled to have the girls join our crew of boys and balance things out a bit. Flamingo is a very big helper with the little ones and has a cheerful disposition. Penguin has a contagious laugh and can be very vocal at times trying to communicate her excitement over our puppy, Ace, or immediate need for a snack.

It took some time to find just the right names for Flamingo and Penguin. Because Flamingo is older, she had some say in the matter and took some time to decide which name she wanted out of the several that we had picked out for her. One of the main reasons we chose Flamingo is because of the way she walks around the house on her tippy-toes and performs many ballet steps and jumps. Other names in the running were, Panda and Giraffe because of her long curly brown hair, and for some reason Platypus was on her mind as well. I think it came from her love of Phineas and Ferb. However, Flamingo seems to fit best because of her graceful and delicate way she walks around.

Penguin received her name because she is a little toddler that waddles around just like a penguin does. She also makes the cutest raspberry expression (as if she is cold) with her mouth when she wants a bottle, so we decided it would be a good fit for her as well. We also considered Panda for her because of the desire pick her up and cuddle her cuteness. Sometimes naming cubs is a bit tough, but I am very happy with our final decision. 

Here's a bit of joy that we've experienced with all our cubs since the changes happened. We hope you enjoy all the fun expressions as much as we do!

The Boys Rule

Here is a glimpse of what we experience everyday in taking care of three boys. Lion is pretty popular, especially when it comes to watching diesels or Thomas the Tank Engine. Meerkat is insistent each day to spend time with him watching trains. He even asks for his toast at the same time that Lion has toast. Now Otter is expressing an interest in choo-choos. I am pretty sure Wallaby will join in the fun a little further down the track.

Just before Christmas, we added a new addition to our family and his name is Ace. Meerkat's mom and dad have two dogs, a Lab and a Great Dane. They gave birth to puppies within a few weeks of each other, so they were taking care of 23 puppies all at once. They kept encouraging Rabbit to come see them all before they were adopted out. We weren't able to come to their house for a visit, so one day she brought two puppies to our house so we would have a chance to see them before they were all gone. Well, let's just say that one still did not have a home. He was the smallest of the litter, and he captured our hearts. We never thought we'd be dog owners, but he has now become one of the family. It's also very special that Meerkat and his mom still get to see him on a daily basis. Meerkat and Otter are both very expressive in their commentaries about Ace and Otter's demonstration of him drinking water is especially funny to watch. We have so much adventure around the den!

Thanksgiving Hats