Phew, July 4th is suddenly upon us, so it's time for another update! It's been on the to-do list for quite some time, but caring for littles on a daily basis often makes the list collect a little dust over time since they keep us on a busy schedule. Bear with me as this post might be a bit lengthy in order to catch things up to date. We currently have 6 full timers and 2 drop-in cubs at the moment who are deeply and dearly loved. Here is a quick glimpse of our family and ALL the busyness around here. I hope this posts captures the freedom and unique characteristics of each precious child in our daily care. Further details on each cub will follow below.
Now you have an idea of how busy it gets around here! Let's start with the two youngest ones. As you may recall, we started care for two infants at the beginning of January. They have taken on the cub names of Moose and Monarch. It almost sounds like a children's book, doesn't it? Imagine the adventures those two could have together. Well anyway, these names portray a good visual picture of their personalities as well.
Moose and Monarch are 3 weeks apart in age, but quite different in growth and development. Moose is laid back, strong, and on the bigger side as far as development goes, and Monarch is more on the petite side, but still very strong, busy, and active. Moose would love to sit, observe, and cuddle all day, but the snuggles for Monarch are usually right before her last ounce of energy is dispersed.
Both babies are 8 months old now and have older siblings. Moose has his big sister Platypus, whom we also watch, and Monarch is the sister of her 7-year-old brother Caterpillar whom we watched many years ago. We thought her name would be fitting and comparable with her busy temperament, which is also very similar to big brother. Moose on the other hand is a bit more laid back than his spirited and adventurous sister, Platypus. It's been an honor and a lot of fun to care for two different sibling sets and see all the unique qualities and differences in each of them!
Moose & Monarch
The next set of two full-time kiddos are Platypus and Hippo. Platypus is 2.5 years old now and keeps us hopping with her spirited ambition and personality. At her age she wants to be in charge and run the show, so we are often having to negotiate a solution with her that we all are happy with. She has a great, outgoing, and helpful personality though, and we love the cuteness that comes along with the spunk. Hippo is approaching 21 months old and getting so tall. He is very cuddly, interactive, and babbles a lot of sounds when he wants to have a conversation, but doesn't quite have the words yet. He is so close to learning how to walk and is making a lot of progress through the help of his PT appointments. It doesn't stop him from getting around though! He is so strong and has figured out how to bear crawl around outside so he can explore.
Platypus & Hippo
Our last set of full-timers are Sea Horse and Mother Hen. Sea Horse turned 3 in May and is also full of energy. She is very much into Paw Patrol and loves stuffed animals, and her mom often has to convince her not to bring all of the ones she owns to daycare. She has a big, cheesy grin that makes our days better. She is 6 months younger than Mother Hen who joined us is February after Owlette went off to preschool. I've been wanting to update for quite some time on Mother Hen since she has been a delight to have in our crew of giggling girls. We call her Mother Hen because she is often looking out for others or tidying up the crackers that they have dropped on the floor. She is also a little peckish when it comes to food, but she's gotten better at eating more foods than when she first started. She's very big on baby dolls, and we love the energy, delight, and mischief she adds to the den with having 3 girls around.
Sea Horse & Mother Hen
Delight
Energy
Mischief
Last but not least, we have Kinkajou and Snow Leopard who spend time with us on a drop-in basis. Snow Leopard was with us full-time last year, but her family had a few unexpected changes in their jobs so she is primarily home with Mom most of the time. We love her sporadic visits as well as the weekly visits for the summer from Kinkajou. Snow Leopard is 4 years old now and Kinkajou will be the same age in a few weeks. They are both delightful to be around and add a spark of imagination and creativity to our home. We value each time they come to play since their school years are not too far off from now.
Kinkajou & Snow Leopard
In closing, I wanted to share a few pictures of our previous cub, Tortoise, who spent a weekend with us in June while his parents were out of town. We had a wonderful time hanging out with him. He enjoyed playing with cars, painting, my daughter's baby Yoda squishmallow, and helping us with cleaning out the sandbox. We also got our new gazebo up to help with shade for the summer since we lost our ash tree. Haha, the ash tree has been trying to grow into a bush, so we had to trim it down this weekend. It has a very slight chance of growing back into a tree, but we will see how successful that is in our next update!
Tortoise
Painting Time with Rabbit
Eating Dinner with Kangaroo
Rest time with KBird
We look forward to catching up on the blog again soon. Summer always flies by, and the time goes too fast, so we cherish every moment with our cubs!
