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.